Transcription factor T-bet regulates the maintenance and differentiation potential of lymph node and lung effector memory B cell subsets

While human and mouse memory B cells (MBCs) can express the transcription factor T-bet, its role in regulating MBC function remains unclear. We characterized multiple transcriptionally distinct clusters of mature, somatically mutated nucleoprotein (NP)-specific MBCs in lymph nodes (LNs) and lungs of influenza-infected mice. Although none of the MBCs expressed the plasma cell (PC) lineage commitment factor Blimp1, one cluster was enriched for Tbx21(+) cells. Similar to the previously described human T-bet(+) effector MBC (eMBC) population, Tbx21(+) mouse MBCs upregulated gene networks associated with effector metabolism, protein synthesis, and the unfolded protein response. Constitutive and inducible ablation of T-bet in murine B cells showed that T-bet expression by MBCs was required for persistence of LN and lung eMBCs with rapid in vitro and in vivo PC differentiation potential. Thus, T-bet marks NP(+) eMBCs that are poised to differentiate, and it regulates maintenance of lung-resident MBCs and local PC responses following virus re-exposure.