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Early transcriptional and epigenetic divergence of CD8+ T cells responding to acute versus chronic infection.

Lauren K Quezada, Wenhao Jin, Yi Chia Liu, Eleanor S Kim, Zhaoren He, Cynthia S Indralingam, Tiffani Tysl, Lara Labarta-Bajo, Ellen J Wehrens, Yeara Jo, Katelynn R Kazane, Christopher Hattori, Elina I Zuniga, Gene W Yeo, John T Chang

PLoS biology · 2023 · Vol. 21 (1) · pp. e3001983

Abstract

During a microbial infection, responding CD8+ T cells give rise to effector cells that provide acute host defense and memory cells that provide sustained protection. An alternative outcome is exhaustion, a state of T cell dysfunction that occurs in the context of chronic infections and cancer. Although it is evident that exhausted CD8+ T (TEX) cells are phenotypically and molecularly distinct from effector and memory CD8+ T cells, the factors regulating the earliest events in the differentiation process of TEX cells remain incompletely understood. Here, we performed single-cell RNA-sequencing and single-cell ATAC-sequencing of CD8+ T cells responding to LCMV-Armstrong (LCMV-Arm) or LCMV-Clone 13 (LCMV-Cl13), which result in acute or chronic infections, respectively. Compared to CD8+ T cells that had undergone their first division in response to LCMV-Arm (Div1ARM) cells, CD8+ T cells that had undergone their first division in response to LCMV-Cl13 (Div1CL13) expressed higher levels of genes encoding transcription factors previously associated with exhaustion, along with higher levels of Ezh2, the catalytic component of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) complex, which mediates epigenetic silencing. Modulation of Ezh2 resulted in altered expression of exhaustion-associated molecules by CD8+ T cells responding to LCMV-Cl13, though the specific cellular and infectious contexts, rather than simply the level of Ezh2 expression, likely determine the eventual outcome. Taken together, these findings suggest that the differentiation paths of CD8+ T cells responding to acute versus chronic infections may diverge earlier than previously appreciated.

Linked datasets 3

GSE213470 GSE · via ncbi_elink
GEO ↗

Gene expression profiles at the single cell level of CD8+ T cells from the spleens of LCMV-Armstrong or LCMV-Clone 13 infected mice

Mus musculus

32 data files
FileTypeSize
LQ_10X_D22_Arm_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 3.2 GB
LQ_10X_D3_Arm_final_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 4.8 GB
LQ_10X_D3_Cl13_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 2.9 GB
LQ_10X_D5_Arm_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 5.0 GB
LQ_10X_D60_Arm_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 6.2 GB
LQ_10X_D60_Cl13_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 5.1 GB
LQ_10X_D6_Arm_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 1.7 GB
LQ_10X_D7_Arm_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 2.5 GB
LQ_10X_D8_Arm_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 2.4 GB
LQ_10X_D8_Cl13_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 6.5 GB
LQ_10X_Div_1_Arm_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 4.5 GB
LQ_10X_Div_1_Cl13_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 4.5 GB
LQ_10X_Naive_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 5.6 GB
LQ_D22_Cl13_Re-do_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 2.1 GB
LQ_D34_Cl13_Re-do_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 1.9 GB
LQ_D5_Cl13_Re-Do_R1.fastq.gz RNA-Seq 2.6 GB
SRR21594696_GSM6586838 RNA-Seq 5.0 GB
SRR21594697_GSM6586837 RNA-Seq 4.8 GB
SRR21594698_GSM6586836 RNA-Seq 4.5 GB
SRR21594699_GSM6586835 RNA-Seq 5.6 GB
SRR21594700_GSM6586850 RNA-Seq 5.1 GB
SRR21594701_GSM6586849 RNA-Seq 1.9 GB
SRR21594702_GSM6586848 RNA-Seq 2.1 GB
SRR21594703_GSM6586847 RNA-Seq 6.5 GB
SRR21594704_GSM6586846 RNA-Seq 2.6 GB
SRR21594705_GSM6586845 RNA-Seq 2.9 GB
SRR21594706_GSM6586844 RNA-Seq 4.5 GB
SRR21594707_GSM6586843 RNA-Seq 6.2 GB
SRR21594708_GSM6586842 RNA-Seq 3.2 GB
SRR21594709_GSM6586841 RNA-Seq 2.4 GB
SRR21594710_GSM6586840 RNA-Seq 2.5 GB
SRR21594711_GSM6586839 RNA-Seq 1.7 GB
GSE213467 GSE · via ncbi_elink
GEO ↗

Areas of H3K27 tri-methylation in CD8+ T cells from the spleens of LCMV-Armstrong or LCMV-Clone 13 infected mice

Mus musculus

12 data files
FileTypeSize
10-H3K27me3_C2_S45_L002_R1_001.fastq.gz ChIP-Seq 2.0 GB
12-IgG_C2_S47_L002_R1_001.fastq.gz ChIP-Seq 3.9 GB
2-H3K4me3_A2_S37_L002_R1_001.fastq.gz ChIP-Seq 2.9 GB
4-H3K27me3_A2_S39_L002_R1_001.fastq.gz ChIP-Seq 6.6 GB
6-IgG_A2_S41_L002_R1_001.fastq.gz ChIP-Seq 5.4 GB
8-H3K4me3_C2_S43_L002_R1_001.fastq.gz ChIP-Seq 2.4 GB
SRR21594540_GSM6586826 ChIP-Seq 3.9 GB
SRR21594541_GSM6586825 ChIP-Seq 5.4 GB
SRR21594542_GSM6586824 ChIP-Seq 2.4 GB
SRR21594543_GSM6586823 ChIP-Seq 2.9 GB
SRR21594544_GSM6586822 ChIP-Seq 2.0 GB
SRR21594545_GSM6586821 ChIP-Seq 6.6 GB
GSE213469 GSE · via ncbi_elink
GEO ↗

Open chromatin regions at the single cell level of CD8+ T cells from the spleens of LCMV-Armstrong or LCMV-Clone 13 infected mice

Mus musculus

16 data files
FileTypeSize
Div1_Arm_Spl_1_S17_L001_R1_001.fastq.gz ATAC-seq 4.1 GB
Div1_Arm_Spl_2_S18_L001_R1_001.fastq.gz ATAC-seq 4.8 GB
Div1_Arm_Spl_3_S19_L001_R1_001.fastq.gz ATAC-seq 1.5 GB
Div1_Arm_Spl_4_S20_L001_R1_001.fastq.gz ATAC-seq 3.9 GB
Div1_Cl13_Spl_1_S21_L001_R1_001.fastq.gz ATAC-seq 4.4 GB
Div1_Cl13_Spl_2_S22_L001_R1_001.fastq.gz ATAC-seq 4.2 GB
Div1_Cl13_Spl_3_S23_L001_R1_001.fastq.gz ATAC-seq 4.3 GB
Div1_Cl13_Spl_4_S24_L001_R1_001.fastq.gz ATAC-seq 5.1 GB
SRR21594569_GSM6586834 ATAC-seq 4.4 GB
SRR21594570_GSM6586834 ATAC-seq 4.2 GB
SRR21594571_GSM6586834 ATAC-seq 4.3 GB
SRR21594572_GSM6586834 ATAC-seq 5.1 GB
SRR21594573_GSM6586833 ATAC-seq 4.1 GB
SRR21594574_GSM6586833 ATAC-seq 4.8 GB
SRR21594575_GSM6586833 ATAC-seq 1.5 GB
SRR21594576_GSM6586833 ATAC-seq 3.9 GB

Potentially related datasets 3

These accessions were text-mined from the PMC full text. They may be referenced for comparison, cited from other studies, or otherwise mentioned without being primary data for this paper.

Accession Source Title
GSE213469 GSE · GEO GEO ↗ Open chromatin regions at the single cell level of CD8+ T cells from the spleens of LCMV-Armstrong or LCMV-Clone 13 …
GSE213470 GSE · GEO GEO ↗ Gene expression profiles at the single cell level of CD8+ T cells from the spleens of LCMV-Armstrong or LCMV-Clone 13 …
GSE213467 GSE · GEO GEO ↗ Areas of H3K27 tri-methylation in CD8+ T cells from the spleens of LCMV-Armstrong or LCMV-Clone 13 infected mice

Analysis pipelines 3

Pipeline Assay Steps Dataset
GSE213467 ChIP-seq Data Processing geo_data_processing ChIP-seq 11 GSE213467
GSE213469 ATAC-seq Data Processing geo_data_processing ATAC-seq 2 GSE213469
GSE213470 scRNA-seq Data Processing geo_data_processing scRNA-seq 2 GSE213470
Funding 12 grants
Grant Funder
S10 OD026929 NIH HHS (United States)
R01 HG004659 NHGRI NIH HHS (United States)
P30 CA023100 NCI NIH HHS (United States)
R01 AI113923 NIAID NIH HHS (United States)
P30 DK120515 NIDDK NIH HHS (United States)
R01 AI129973 NIAID NIH HHS (United States)
P30 DK063491 NIDDK NIH HHS (United States)
P01 AI132122 NIAID NIH HHS (United States)
I01 CX002396 CSRD VA (United States)
R01 AI123202 NIAID NIH HHS (United States)
I01 BX005106 BLRD VA (United States)
R01 AI145314 NIAID NIH HHS (United States)