Single-Cell RNA Sequencing of Lungs Infected for 24 Hours with Avirulent Coccidioides posadasii (?cts2/?ard1/?cts3)
The innate immune responses to Coccidioides are not well understood, particularly regarding which immune cells initiate the response upon infection. This study uses mouse models 24 hours post-infection to explore the initial immunological response to Coccidioides. Data sets include CD45+ MACS bead-sorted lung immune cells labeled with Coccidioides to differentiate which immune cells were directly interacting with the fungus versus bystander cells. The unlabeled Coccidioides data set includes all immune cells from the lungs. Using fungal fluorescent labeling and single-cell RNA sequencing, we identified CD274 (PD-L1) expressing neutrophils and contact-dependent Spp1+ macrophages as dominant responders, indicating an anti-inflammatory initial response. These findings elucidate the early dynamics of host immune interactions with Coccidioides, providing a foundation for further understanding host-pathogen interactions in fungal respiratory infections. Overall design: We utilized 10X Genomics to conduct single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize the phenotypes of immune cells during the initial Coccidioides infection. The data sets include CD45+ MACS bead-sorted lung immune cells labeled with Coccidioides to distinguish immune cells that were directly interacting with the fungus versus bystander cells. The unlabeled Coccidioides data set includes all immune cells from the lungs. All single-cell RNA sequencing data were collected from 6 mice, pooled into 2 groups, and sequenced with n=3.