Project description:Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC-2s) regulate immune responses to pathogens, allergens, tissue remodeling and metabolic homeostasis in response to cytokines. Positive regulation of ILC-2s through ICOS has been recently elucidated but co-receptor mediated negative regulatory axis is yet to be defined. We demonstrate that PD-1 is an important negative regulator of KLRG1+ILC-2 function in both mice and humans. Increase in KLRG1+ ILC-2 cells numbers were attributed to an intrinsic defect in PD-1 signaling, which resulted in enhanced STAT5 activation. During Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection, a significant expansion of KLRG1+ ILC-2 subsets occurred in pdcd1-/- mice and on adoptive transfer, pdcd1-/- KLRG1+ ILC-2s significantly reduced worm burden. Furthermore, blocking antibody to PD-1 increased KLRG1+ ILC-2 cell number and reduced disease burden. Therefore PD-1 is an important negative regulator and is vital for maintaining the number and hence function of KLRG1+ ILC-2s.
Project description:A transitory, interleukin-25-responsive, KLRG1high Group 2 innate lymphoid (ILC2) cell subset that migrates to mucosal tissues early during type-2 inflammation was recently identified. This study focuses on understanding the significance of this population in relation to tissue-resident ILC2 cells in the lung and intestine. RNA-sequencing and unbiased pathway analysis revealed the AP-1 factor BATF as a potential modulator of ILC2 cell fate. For RNAseq, KLRG1-postive and KLRG1-neagive populations were sorted and compared.
Project description:The importance of unanchored Ub in innate immunity has been shown only for a limited number of unanchored Ub-interactors. We investigated what additional cellular factors interact with unanchored Ub and whether unanchored Ub plays a broader role in innate immunity. To identify unanchored Ub-interacting factors from murine lungs, we used His-tagged recombinant poly-Ub chains as bait. These chains were mixed with lung tissue lysates and protein complexes were isolated with Ni-NTA beads. Sample elutions were subjected to mass spectrometry (LC-MSMS) analysis.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.