Gamma delta T-cells are a lymphocyte subset that display gamma delta T-cell receptors rather than the alpha beta T-cell receptors that alpha beta T cells like CD4 helper and CD8 cytotoxic T-cells display, and whose function straddles the intersection of innate and adaptive immune cells (1). To understand the transcriptional behavior of gamma delta T-cells during mammalian development, we performed global differential gene expression of datasets encompassing transcriptome data from embryonic and adult gamma delta T-cells from mice (2). These analyses revealed a species of non-coding RNA termed small nucleolar RNA, or snoRNA were among the most differentially expressed genes when comparing embryonic and adult gamma delta T-cells. Moreover, these snoRNA were uniformly down-regulated over the course of gamma delta T-cell development. These data demonstrate unprecedented developmental repression of snoRNA in lymphocytes and suggest that stage-specific repression of snoRNAs may serve some vital developmental purpose in the function of gamma delta T-cells.
Blockade of transgenic gamma delta T cell development in beta 2-microglobulin deficient mice.