Fig. 2

Characterization of cell type-specific hypervariable genes. a–c Increased expression variability of the genes CD9, CAPN2, and FYN across three immune cell types. For each cell type, data points represent the expression values of the indicated gene in one individual. Cell types marked by an arrowhead were found to show significantly increased variability compared to the other two cell types. While CD9 was found to be hypervariable in all three cell types, CAPN2 and FYN show increased variability only in neutrophils, if contrasted to monocytes and T cells. d Heatmap of Spearman’s correlation coefficients showing neutrophil-specific HVGs that associated with various donor-specific quantitative traits. A total of 49 genes with increased inter-individual variability showed a significant association with at least one of the measured traits (Benjamini–Hochberg-corrected P < 0.05, Spearman’s rank correlation). e NFX1 gene expression levels versus neutrophil granularity. f FYN gene expression levels versus neutrophil percentage. BMI body mass index