Defining molecular circuits of CD8+ T cell responses in tissues during latent viral infection

Latent viral infections rely on a precise coordination of the immune response to control sporadic viral reactivation. CD8+ T cells play a crucial role in controlling viral latency by generating diverse memory responses in an epitope-specific manner. Among these distinct responses, conventional and inflationary memory responses have been described during herpesvirus infections. Using a newly generated T cell receptor transgenic mouse strain, we investigated the transcriptomic and epigenetic remodeling of distinct epitope-specific CD8+ T cells during cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection across tissues at both population and single-cell levels. Our findings reveal that whereas the transcriptomic and epigenetic landscape of conventional and inflationary memory responses diverge in the spleen and liver, these molecular programs converge in the salivary gland, a site of CMV persistence. Thus, we provide evidence that the dynamics of memory CD8+ T cell responses are nuanced and exquisitely distinct between tissues.