RNA-seq analysis of IL-23-producing cDCs in gut

Although it is well known that IL-23 plays an important role for maintaining gut homeostasis, the precise identity of IL-23-producing cells remains unclear. Here, we developed a new IL-23 reporter strain (Il23a-Venus mice) which let us visualize and sort IL-23-producing cells. Since conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) selectively expressed IL-23 in gut at physiological state, we compared the gene expression profiles of gut CD103+ CD11b+ cDC2 and Il23a-Venus+ cDC2. We found that Il23a-Venus+ cDC2 highly expressed gene sets related to ILC3/Th17 activation. Furthermore, Il23a-Venus+ cDC2 highly expressed Notch2 and retinoic acid-inducible genes. Thus, these data provide important clues of the underlying mechanisms that regulate the functions and the development of IL-23-producing cDCs in gut.