Transcriptomic insights into temporal expression pattern of autophagy genes during monocytic and granulocytic differentiation

Macroautophagy/autophagy plays an essential role in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) differentiation. However, the role of autophagy during monocytic and granulocytic differentiation remains poorly understood. Hence, we first represented global transcriptomic analysis for temporal expression of autophagy genes during monocytic and granulocytic differentiation by combining RNA-Seq data with monocytic and granulocytic induction in CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. According to a self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm, our results show temporal expression patterns of autophagy genes during monocytic and granulocytic differentiation. More importantly, 22 autophagy genes present significantly divergent roles during monocytic and granulocytic differentiation, indicating these autophagy genes could be important factors involved in the differentiation of myeloid progenitors into monocytes and granulocytes.