Fig. 3: Bulk RNA sequencing analysis reveals increased pathological inflammation in Atg7 cKO lungs during NTM infection.
a Atg7 cWT and Atg7 cKO mice were infected with Mabc-R (2 × 106 CFU) for 3 days. A heatmap analysis was performed to visualize the expression of inflammatory genes in the mouse lung tissues. The color scale bar of the heatmap represents z-scores of normalized gene counts. b, c Atg7 cWT and Atg7 cKO mice were infected with Mabc-R (2 × 106 CFU) for 3 days (n = 3 for Ninjurin 1; n = 6 for Tnf, Il1b, and Mmp12). Relative mRNA expression of various inflammatory chemokines/cytokines in the lung tissues (b), and of S100a8 and S100a9 (c), were measured (d) Atg7 cWT and Atg7 cKO mice were infected with Mav (1 × 107 CFU) for 3 days (n = 6 mice per group). Relative mRNA expression of various inflammatory chemokines/cytokines in the lung tissues. e, f Atg7 cWT and Atg7 cKO mice were infected with Mabc-R (2 × 106 CFU, 21 dpi, n = 4), Mabc-S (1 × 107 CFU, 7 dpi, n = 3), Mav (1 × 107 CFU, 21 dpi, n = 4), or Mint (1 × 107 CFU, 21 dpi, Atg7 cWT: n = 4; Atg7 cKO: n = 2). The protein levels of IL-1β (e) and IL-6 (f) in lung homogenates were analyzed by ELISA. Statistical significance was determined by two-sided unpaired t-test with Mann–Whitney U-test (b; Ccl2, Cxcl2, Ccl5, Cxcl5, Tnf, Il1b, and Mmp12), two-sided unpaired Welch’s t-test (b; Ninjurin1), and two-tailed student’s t-test (c–f). Data shown (means ± SEM) represent the combined results of three independent experiments (b–f). dpi days post-infection. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
