Single Cell Gene Expression and ATAC-seq of Mouse Brain Following Multiple Infections with Murine Cytomegalovirus (MCMV)

Evidence supporting the role of pathogen exposure in the development of dementia has been mounting for decades. We used murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) as our model pathogen. We repeated infected mice every 3 months modeling the re-activation/re-infection with MCMV that occurs throughout life. We used Multiome ATAC-seq and RNA-seq to examine changes to the brain of infected animals. 2 month old mice were either mock- or MCMV-infected with 5x10^4 plaque forming units. Repeated reactivation or reinfection over the course of the lifetime of the animal was modeled by re-infection with MCMV every 3 months. Mice were sacrificed at 14 months of age and brains were collected for Multiome ATAC-seq RNA-seq

数十年来，支持病原体暴露在痴呆症发生发展中发挥作用的证据日益增多。本研究以鼠巨细胞病毒（murine cytomegalovirus, MCMV）作为模式病原体，每3个月对小鼠进行一次感染，以此模拟终生持续发生的鼠巨细胞病毒再激活/再感染过程。我们采用多组学ATAC测序（Multiome ATAC-seq）与RNA测序（RNA-seq）技术，检测感染小鼠脑部的变化。2月龄小鼠分别以5×10^4噬斑形成单位的剂量接受假感染或鼠巨细胞病毒感染，通过每3个月一次的鼠巨细胞病毒再感染，模拟小鼠终生的反复病毒再激活或再感染过程。小鼠于14月龄时被处死，收集其脑部用于多组学ATAC测序与RNA测序分析。