Neighbourhood Character

Are you defined by where you live? Perhaps not, but some of your immune cells are. When the body encounters any infection, it makes a note of the foe so it's prepared next time. This information takes the form of memory T cells, and a new study has found that those residing in the small intestine take two different forms. By mapping the precise positions of cells and their corresponding patterns of gene expression (activity) within the mouse small intestine (pictured, with cells coloured by clusters of cell type, showing the change in type across microscopic regions), they found that one set of T cells settles at the tops of intestinal folds (villi), attack-ready should invaders return, while others stay lower and harbour more regenerative potential should the need arise. Understanding how the positioning and local conditions dictate cell type could open new paths for boosting immunity against infections and gut disorders.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by Miguel Reina-Campos, Alexander Monell and Maximilian Heeg, and colleagues
• School of Biological Sciences, Department of Molecular Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Nature, January 2025