Single-cell RNA sequencing of Yersinia pestis infection at the early stage of bubonic plague

Bubonic plague caused by Yersinia pestis is highly infectious and often fatal. Characterization of the host immune response and subsequent suppression by Y. pestis is critical to understand the disease pathogenesis. We utilized single-cell RNA sequencing to systematically profile the transcriptomes of immune cells in mouse inguinal lymph nodes (ILNs) at the early stage of Y. pestis infection. Dendritic cells responded to Y. pestis within 2 hours post-infection (hpi), whereas macrophages/monocytes (Mφs/Mons) were gradually activated. Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) were not recruited into ILNs until 24 hpi and cell-to-cell communication analysis suggested Mφs/Mons recruited PMNs into ILNs. Functional suppression of all these three innate immune cell types occurred at the early stage of infection. We present a dynamic immune landscape of murine lymph nodes involved in the response to Y. pestis infection at the single-cell resolution, which may facilitate the development of preventive and therapeutic strategies for plague control.