Open AccessAge-related transcriptional modules and TF-miRNA-mRNA interactions in neonatal and infant human thymus
Author(s) -
Fernanda Bernardi Bertonha,
Sílvia Yumi Bando,
Leandro Ferreira,
Paulo Chaccur,
Christiana de Freitas Vinhas,
Maria Cláudia Nogueira Zerbini,
Magda CarneiroSampaio,
Carlos Alberto Moreira-Filho
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0227547
Subject(s) - transcriptome , biology , microrna , gene , thymic involution , gene expression , regulation of gene expression , transcriptional regulation , gene expression profiling , involution (esoterism) , genetics , t cell , immune system , neuroscience , consciousness
The human thymus suffers a transient neonatal involution, recovers and then starts a process of decline between the 1 st and 2 nd years of life. Age-related morphological changes in thymus were extensively investigated, but the genomic mechanisms underlying this process remain largely unknown. Through Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) and TF-miRNA-mRNA integrative analysis we studied the transcriptome of neonate and infant thymic tissues grouped by age: 0–30 days (A); 31days-6 months (B); 7–12 months (C); 13–18 months (D); 19-31months (E). Age-related transcriptional modules, hubs and high gene significance (HGS) genes were identified, as well as TF-miRNA-hub/HGS co-expression correlations. Three transcriptional modules were correlated with A and/or E groups. Hubs were mostly related to cellular/metabolic processes; few were differentially expressed (DE) or related to T-cell development. Inversely, HGS genes in groups A and E were mostly DE. In A (neonate) one third of the hyper-expressed HGS genes were related to T-cell development, against one-twentieth in E, what may correlate with the early neonatal depletion and recovery of thymic T-cell populations. This genomic mechanism is tightly regulated by TF-miRNA-hub/HGS interactions that differentially govern cellular and molecular processes involved in the functioning of the neonate thymus and in the beginning of thymic decline.