title: Asymmetric Cell Division in T Lymphocyte Fate Diversification.
abstract: Immunological protection against microbial pathogens is dependent on robust generation of functionally diverse T lymphocyte subsets. Upon microbial infection, naïve CD4(+) or CD8(+) T lymphocytes can give rise to effector- and memory-fated progeny that together mediate a potent immune response. Recent advances in single-cell immunological and genomic profiling technologies have helped elucidate early and late diversification mechanisms that enable the generation of heterogeneity from single T lymphocytes. We discuss these findings here and argue that one such mechanism, asymmetric cell division, creates an early divergence in T lymphocyte fates by giving rise to daughter cells with a propensity towards the terminally differentiated effector or self-renewing memory lineages, with cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic cues from the microenvironment driving the final maturation steps.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Janilyn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arsenio
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Metz
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: changj@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D060049:Asymmetric Cell Division / Q000276:immunology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D006801:Humans; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology
keywords: T lymphocyte differentiation; T lymphocyte fate determination; adaptive immunity; asymmetric division; single-cell analyses