Figure 2.

Defects in MAIT cells in the absence of Bcl11b are cell intrinsic

Mixed bone marrow (BM) chimeras were generated by 1:1 ratio of BM cells from Bcl11b^F/F/PLZFcre (KO) (CD45.2+) mice and Bcl11b^F/F (WT) (CD45.1+ CD45.2+) mice, transplanted into lethally irradiated CD45.1 mice.

(A and B) Representative dot plot (A) and frequencies (B) of TCRβ+MR1t-5-OP-RU+ MAIT cells in the thymus, 8 weeks post transfer versus total transplanted thymocytes.

(C and D) Representative dot plot (C) and frequencies (D) of Bcl11b KO (CD45.2) and WT (CD45.1+ CD45.2+) TCRβ+MR1t-5-OP-RU+ MAIT cells in the three developmental stages in thymi of mixed BM chimeras.

(E) Frequencies and MFI of RORγt in developmental stage 3.

(F and G) Representative dot plots (F) and frequencies (G) of transplanted Bcl11b KO (CD45.2) and WT (CD45.1+ CD45.2+) TCRβ+MR1t-5-OP-RU+ MAIT cells versus TCRβ+MR1t-5-OP-RU- cells in the lung of mixed BM chimeric mice.

(H–K) Representative contour plots (H) and frequencies (I) of RORγt and IL17A, frequencies (J) and MFI (K) of RORγt in the lung Bcl11b KO (CD45.2) and WT (CD45.1+ CD45.2+) TCRβ+MR1t-5-OP-RU+ MAIT cells in transplanted BM chimeric mice at steady state.

(L–Q) Representative contour plots (L) and frequencies (M) of RORγt and IL17A, frequencies (N) and MFI (O) of RORγt, and Gzma (P) and Gzmb (Q) frequencies in the lung Bcl11b KO (CD45.2) and WT (CD45.1+ CD45.2+) TCRβ+MR1t-5-OP-RU+ MAIT cells in transplanted BM chimeric mice infected with 10⁶ cfu of Salmonella enterica ser. Typhimurium BRD509 (Salmonella BRD509) intranasally. Two mouse files were concatenated using FlowJo for each point on the statistical graphs.

Data are represented as mean ± SEM. All statistics were conducted as paired t test. p < 0.05 was considered significant.