Multi-tissue scRNA-seq reveals immune cell landscape of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus)
Weijie Chen, Jianchang Huang, Wei Wang, Ying Wang, Hao Chen, Qiyao Wang, Yuanxing Zhang, Qin Liu, Dahai Yang
Abstract
In vertebrates, bony fishes possess not only innate immune cells but also T and B cells that are equivalent to those in mammals. However, the precise sub-cluster of immune cells in teleost fish remains largely unknown. Herein, we developed a dynamic bacterial infection model in turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) and created a fish immune cell landscape (FICL) for a primary lymphoid organ (head kidney), a secondary lymphoid organ (spleen), and barrier tissues (gills and posterior intestine). Moreover, through comprehensive characterization of the expression profiles of 16 clusters, including dendritic cells-like (DCs-like), macrophages (MΦs), neutrophils, NK cells, as well as 12 sub-clusters of T and B cells, we found that CD8+ CTLs, CD4−CD8− T, Th17 and ILC3-2 like cells possess a bifunctional role associated with cytotoxicity and immunoregulation during bacterial infection. To our knowledge, these results could provide a useful resource for a better understanding of immune cells in teleost fish and could act as a comprehensive knowledge base for assessing the evolutionary mechanism of adaptive immunity in vertebrates.