For full-length bulk transcriptome analyses, we used the Smart-Seq2 protocol (110 (link)), adapted for samples with small cell numbers (111 (link), 112 (link)). We followed the protocol as described previously (111 (link), 112 (link)) with following modifications: (i) the pre-amplification PCR cycle for T cells was set at 22 cycles; (ii) to eliminate any traces of primer-dimers, the PCR pre-amplified cDNA product was purified using 0.8x Ampure-XP beads (Beckman Coulter) before using the DNA for sequencing library preparation. One ng of pre-amplified cDNA was used to generate barcoded Illumina sequencing libraries (Nextera XT library preparation kit, Illumina) in 8 μl reaction volume. Samples failing any quality control step (DNA quality assessed by capillary electrophoresis (Fragment analyzer, Advance analytical) and quantity (Picogreen quantification assay, Thermo Fisher) were eliminated from further downstream steps. Libraries were then pooled at equal molar concentration and sequenced using the HiSeq 2500 Illumina platform to obtain 50-bp single-end reads (HiSeq SBS Kit v4; Illumina). In total, 1.7 billion uniquely mapped reads we generated with a median ± standard deviation of 17.8 ± 3.8 million uniquely mapped reads per sample.