Fig. 3

a PCA plot of samples: Samples are colour coded based on their group. PCA method reduces the spatial dimensions of the gene expression pattern among samples and cluster the datasets based on their similarity. Results above show that the MSC samples are well separated from NPCs. b Unsupervised hierarchical sample clustering. Samples were hierarchically clustered using the sample distance calculated from the overall dispersion rate of gene expression. Results above show that the MSC samples cluster together and are separated from NPCs. c Volcano Plot: Illustration of differentially expressed genes for each comparison of NPCs versus MSC samples. For illustration purposes, a cut-off of 0.05 and ( ±) 2.5 is used for P-value and fold change respectively to highlight the most significant differentially expressed genes (highlighted in red). Significantly differentially expressed genes are annotated. P-values are capped at 50 for maximised view. d Fold changes of the respective genes in NPCs relative to rat MSCs; comparing the expression obtained from mRNA-Seq and RT-qPCR. Values of the RT-qPCR were normalized with the average values of the housekeeping genes