TREM2 regulates microglial lipid metabolism during aging in mice [RNA-Seq]

TREM2 is a microglial-specific gene implicated in late-onset Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Recent studies have identified that Trem2-deficient mice exhibit transcriptional changes in microglial gene expression that minimize the upregulation of lipid metabolism and lysosomal genes in AD disease models. We detect similiarly attenuated expression of lipid metabolism genes in microglia isolated from brains of aged Trem2 knockout mice. Overall design: Microglia and astrocytes were purified from brains of Trem2 wildtype and homozygous knockout mice of young (2 months) and old (16-18 months) mice using fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS). Gene expression was assessed using 3' tag sequencing of poly-adenylated RNA (QuantSeq, Lexogen, Vienna, Austria) with unique-molecular identifiers (UMIs).