Fig. 2: GFI1-expressing CD8⁺ T cells exhibit a T_M cell molecular program.

a, Shared and unique DEGs (P < 0.05) in activated CD11a⁺CD44⁺GFI1^hi CD8⁺ T cells isolated from the spleen of Gfi1^tdTomato/+ mice at D7 post infection with LCMV^c13 or LCMV^Arm and analyzed by RNA-seq. b, Volcano plot of DEGs in GFI1^hi CD8⁺ T cells from LCMV^c13-infected mice as in a. Blue and red indicate genes upregulated in activated GFI1^lo and GFI1^hi CD8⁺ T cells, respectively. Gray dots indicate P > 0.05. c, DEseq2-normalized expression of selected genes in GFI1^hi and GFI1^lo CD8⁺ T cells isolated from LCMV^c13-infected mice as in a. d, Gene set enrichment analysis of GFI1^hi and GFI1^lo CD8⁺ T cells isolated from LCMV^c13-infected mice as in a, using a memory CD8⁺ T cells gene signature²⁶. NES, normalized enrichment score. e, Shared and unique DEGs (P < 0.05) in CD44⁺CD62L⁺GFI1^hi and CD44⁺Ly108⁺GFI1^hi CD8⁺ T_M cells isolated from the spleen of Gfi1^tdTomato/+ mice at D7 post infection with LCMV^c13 and analyzed by RNA-seq. f,g, Representative flow cytometry plots (f) and quantification (g) of spleen donor CD45.2⁺CD8⁺ T cells at D7 post LCMV^Arm infection in congenic C57BL/6 mice transferred intravenously (i.v.) with splenic CD8⁺ T cells isolated at D21 post LCMV^Arm infection from CD45.2⁺ Gfi1^tdTomato/+ mice and infected with LCMV^Arm 24 h later. Data pooled from two experiments (n = 7 mice per group). h, Total donor CD45.2⁺CD8⁺ T cells at D14 post LCMV^c13 infection in the spleen of congenic C57BL/6 recipients infected with LCMV^c13 7 days before transfer of infection-matched (D7) CD8⁺ T cells isolated from LCMV^c13-infected CD45.2⁺ Gfi1^tdTomato/+ mice. Data pooled from two experiments (n = 5 or 7 mice per group). P values were calculated using a Wald’s test (b, d and e) or a two-tailed Student’s t-test (g and h). Data in g and h show means; error bars, s.e.m.