Gene signatures of sickle MSCs. RNA-sequencing transcriptome analysis and RT-PCR were conducted on sorted MSCs from Townes SS mice vs SA control mice. (A) The top 50 differentially expressed genes from RNA sequencing are presented and arranged by using hierarchical clustering. Experimental and control groups were age and sex matched. Each lane represents sorted MSCs from different mice. (B) Top 10 differentially expressed Gene Ontology categories among SS MSCs compared with SA MSCs. (C) Table listing the top 10 differentially expressed Gene Ontology categories and corresponding P values among SS MSCs compared with SA MSCs. (D) RT-PCR analysis revealed that HSC maintenance genes were downregulated among SS MSCs compared with SA MSCs. Gene expression levels were normalized to Gapdh. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean. Statistical significance was determined by using a 2-tailed, unpaired Student t test (D). N = 4 for all experiments. *P ≤ .05, **P ≤ .01.