Single-cell RNA-sequencing of human cytomegalovirus-infected humanized mice

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a common herpesvirus that persistently infects a large portion of the world's population. Despite the robust host immune response, HCMV is able to replicate, evade host defenses, and establish latency throughout the lifespan by developing multiple immunomodulatory strategies, making the studies on the interaction between HCMV infection and host response particularly important. HCMV has a strict host specificity that specifically infects humans. Therefore, most of the in vivo researches of HCMV rely on clinical samples. Fortunately, the establishment of humanized mouse models allows for convenient in-lab animal experiments involving HCMV infection. Single-cell RNA sequencing(scRNA-seq) enables the study of the relationship between viral and host gene expressions at the single-cell level within host cells. In this study, we assessed the gene expression alterations of PBMCs at the single-cell level within HCMV-infected humanized mice, which sheds light onto the virus-host interactions in the context of HCMV infecton of humanized mice and provides a valuable dataset for the related researches. Overall design: To delineate the single-cell dynamics of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) during latent and reactivated HCMV infection, we procured PBMCs from the peripheral blood of humanized mice. These were categorized into two groups: two wild-type (Mock), and two HCMV-infected (HCMV). Initially, NHDF cells harboring HCMV were introduced into the peritoneal cavity of NOD-scid IL2Rgcnull mice. Following a 4-week period peripheral blood was harvested and partitioned from each mouse group