Fig. 3.

The suppressive signature of recirculating CCR6⁺ T_reg is impaired in the thymus of Aire^KO mice. A The expression level of Foxp3, Klrg1, Il10, Gzmb, Fasl, Lag3, Entpd1 and Nt5e was measured by qPCR in thymic CCR6⁺ T_reg from 6-week-old Aire^WT (n = 6) and Aire^KO (n = 9) mice. Bar graphs show mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 using two-tailed Mann–Whitney test. B Scatterplot representations of log10 gene expression levels (FPKM) in recirculating CCR6⁺ T_reg from Aire^WT and Aire^KO mice. For representation purposes, expression values of genes below 0.01 were assigned to 0.01. Genes with fold difference > 2 and p-adj < 0.05 were considered as up- or down-regulated genes (red and green dots, respectively). RNA-seq was performed on 2 independent biological replicates derived from two mice. C Heatmap of selected genes down-regulated in recirculating CCR6⁺ Aire^KO T_reg (Fold Change > 2) compared to their CCR6⁺ Aire^WT counterparts and involved in T_reg suppressive functions, Th–like T_reg, helper T cell polarization, fat and muscle T_reg. Two biological replicates are shown for each condition