Project description:Cellular binary fate decisions require the progeny to silence genes associated with the alternative fate. The major subsets of alpha:beta T cells have been extensively studied as a model system for fate decisions. While the transcription factor RUNX3 is required for the initiation of Cd4 silencing in CD8 T cell progenitors, it is not required to maintain the silencing of Cd4 and other helper T lineage genes. The other runt domain containing protein, RUNX1, silences Cd4 in an earlier T cell progenitor, but this silencing is reversed whereas the gene silencing after RUNX3 expression is not reverse. Therefore, we hypothesized that RUNX3 and not RUNX1 recruits other factors that maintains the silencing of helper T lineage genes in CD8 T cells. To this end, we performed a proteomics screen of RUNX1 and RUNX3 to determine candidate silencing factors.
Project description:Here we analyzed the transcriptional response to IL12 in activated CD4+ T cells in vitro. Splenic CD4+ T cells were isolated by negative selection from 6wk old male C57BL/6 mice. These were activated with CD3/28 beads for 48hrs and thereafter cultured with IL12 (100U/ml) for 2hrs or 8hrs in vitro. Cells were then transferred directly into TriZol. RNA was prepared in Trizol for gene expression profiling by Affymetrix Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Arrays.
