The epithelial layer of the gastrointestinal tract is the bodys first line of defense against gut pathogens. However, our current understanding of the innate immune response of the epithelial layer is limited. For this study, we used gastrointestinal organoids which have the advantage of being primary, non-transformed epithelium that retains organ-specific characteristics in culture, and also that they lack any confounding immune cells. We systematically profiled the transcriptomes of gastrointestinal epithelial cells using a newly generated biobank of human and murine GI organoids grown from tissue-resident stem cells, providing an atlas of gene expression along the GI tract of both species. RNA sequencing of all lines confirmed the preservation of tissue identity, and in addition revealed extensive organization of innate immune signaling components along the cephalocaudal axis, endowing a specific innate immune profile to each segment. SOURCE: Ozge Kayisoglu (oezge.kayisoglu@uni-wuerzburg.de) -  Research Center for Infectious Diseases (ZINF)

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE127938 (human): Transcriptome profiling of organoids from the human and murine gastrointestinal tract