title: Differential transcription of fathead minnow immune-related genes following infection with frog virus 3, an emerging pathogen of ectothermic vertebrates.
abstract: Frog virus 3 (FV3) and other ranaviruses are responsible for die-offs involving wild, farmed, and captive amphibians, fish, and reptiles. To ascertain which elements of the immune system respond to infection, we explored transcriptional responses following infection of fathead minnow cells with either wild type (wt) FV3 or a knock out (KO) mutant targeting the 18 kDa immediate early gene (18K). At 8h post infection we observed marked upregulation of multiple transcripts encoding proteins affecting innate and acquired immunity. Sequences expressed 4-fold or higher in wt-infected cells included transcripts encoding interferon (IFN), IFN regulatory factors (IRFs), IFN stimulated genes (ISGs) such as Mx and MHC class I, and interleukins IL-1β, IL-8, IL-17C and IL-12. Cells infected with the 18K KO mutant (∆18K) showed qualitative differences and lower levels of induction. Collectively, these results indicate that ranavirus infection induced expression of multiple cellular genes affecting both innate and acquired immunity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39211, USA.
authors.forename: Kwang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS 39180, USA.
authors.forename: B Lynn
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Escalon
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39211, USA. Electronic address: vchinchar@umc.edu.
authors.forename: V Gregory
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Chinchar
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing & Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39759, USA.
authors.forename: Natàlia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Garcia-Reyero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003530:Cyprinidae / Q000276:immunology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D017995:Ranavirus / Q000276:immunology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
keywords: 18K knock out mutant; Anti-viral immunity; FHM microarray; Fathead minnow cells; Frog virus 3; Immune-related genes; Interferon; Iridovirus; Ranavirus