GATM PPMO knockdown affects host response to H1N1 influenza infection in mouse lungs

The GATM gene shows strong transcriptional regulation during influenza infection and increased GATM transcription correlates with peak viral titers in the lung. In order to investigate an in vivo role for GATM during influenza infection, we created a peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PPMO) to disrupt GATM translation. In our study, mice received a GATM-specific PPMO or scrambled PPMO once per day for two days, and then were subsequently infected with an H1N1 (A/California/04/2009) strain of IAV or PBS as a mock infection control. Mouse lungs were harvested three days post-infection and analyzed via RNA sequencing.