SOX13 regulated genes in CD4+CD8+ double positive thymocytes. Mus musculus

ab and gd T cells originate from a common, multi-potential precursor population in the thymus, but the molecular mechanisms regulating this lineage fate decision process are unknown. We have identified Sox13 as a gd-specific gene in the immune system. Using Sox13 transgenic mice, we show that SOX13 promotes gd T cell development while opposing ab T cell differentiation. Conversely, mice deficient in Sox13 expression exhibited impaired development of gd T cells, but not ab T cells. One mechanism of SOX13 function is the inhibition of WNT/TCF signaling, suggesting that differential WNT/TCF activity is an essential parameter for this binary cell fate choice. Keywords: global gene expression profile comparison Overall design: CD4+CD8+ double positive thymocyte subsets were sorted by FACS using total pooled thymocytes from minimum of two mice and immediately lysed in Trizol. Comparison groups in each experiment were DP thymocytes from Sox13 transgenic mice and wild type B6 littermate controls. Gene expression profiling was performed according to the manufacturer’s protocol (Affymetrix). Labeled cRNA (from total RNA) was generated and applied to Affymetrix Mu11K(A and B) (expt 1) or muU74Av2 (expt 2) microarrays. Results were analyzed using Microarray Analysis Software v4 and v5 (Affymetrix).