Chromatin accessibility landscapes activated by cell-surface and intracellular immune receptors
Pingtao Ding, Toshiyuki Sakai, Ram Krishna Shrestha, Nicolás Manosalva Pérez, Wenbin Guo, Bruno Pok Man Ngou, Shengbo He, Chang Liu, Xiaoqi Feng, Runxuan Zhang, Klaas Vandepoele, Dan MacLean, Jonathan D. G. Jones
Abstract
Activation of cell-surface and intracellular receptor-mediated immunity results in rapid transcriptional reprogramming that underpins disease resistance. However, the mechanisms by which co-activation of both immune systems lead to transcriptional changes are not clear. Here, we combine RNA-seq and ATAC-seq to define changes in gene expression and chromatin accessibility. Activation of cell-surface or intracellular receptor-mediated immunity, or both, increases chromatin accessibility at induced defence genes. Analysis of ATAC-seq and RNA-seq data combined with publicly available information on transcription factor DNA-binding motifs enabled comparison of individual gene regulatory networks activated by cell-surface or intracellular receptor-mediated immunity, or by both. These results and analyses reveal overlapping and conserved transcriptional regulatory mechanisms between the two immune systems.