Integrated Genomics Approaches Identify Mediators of Transcriptional and Epigenetic Responses to Afghan Desert Particulate Matter in Small Airway Epithelial Cells (PRO-Seq)

New respiratory diseases in personnel deployed to Southwest Asia after September 11th raise major concerns about the impacts of airborne particulate matter. Although regulations exist, the knowledge about how particulates influence disease states is limited, precluding the appropriate recognition, prevention and treatment of deployment-related lung diseases. We applied two genomics assays, Precision Run-on sequencing (PRO-seq) and the assay for transposase accessible chromatin with sequencing (ATAC-seq), to characterize the small airway epithelial cell response to Afghan desert particulate matter (APM). Deep sequencing of nascent transcripts was performed using Precision Run-on sequencing (PRO-seq) in small airway epithelial cells following exposure to Afghan Desert Particulate matter. All samples were sequenced in duplicate.