title: Transcriptome analysis of the effect of Vibrio alginolyticus infection on the innate immunity-related complement pathway in Epinephelus coioides.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) with protogynous hermaphroditic features are one of the most economically important aquaculture species in Taiwan. However, larvae stage grouper are susceptible to infection by the bacterial pathogen Vibrio alginolyticus. To better understand the molecular mechanisms of the immune response to V. alginolyticus in Epinephelus coioides larvae, we used high-throughput deep sequencing technology to study the effect of infection on gene expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 114,851,002 reads were assembled, consisting of 9,687,355,560 nucleotides; these were further assembled into 209,082 contigs with a mean length of 372 bp. Gene ontology (GO) analysis of the transcriptome revealed 12 cellular component subcategories, 16 molecular function subcategories, and 42 biological process subcategories (P value <0.05). A total of 32664 Epinephelus coioides genes were mapped to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG); 1504 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were subsequently identified, in 12 categories (P value <0.05). Vibrio infection affected the expression of genes involved in complementation, coagulation cascades, pathogen (Staphylococcus aureus) infection, phagosome activity, antigen processing, and the antigen presentation pathway.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that the complement pathway of innate immunity and the hepicidin antimicrobial peptide may play important roles in the defense of Epinephelus coioides larvae against V. alginolyticus, and the immune response may activate at 4 h after bacterial infection. These results implicate the complement pathway signal pathway in immunity during V. alginolyticus infection at early developmental stages, enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the immune response to Vibrio infection in Epinephelus coioides.
authors.forename: Yi-Da
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shin-Jie
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hong-Nong
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Wen-Liang
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Hong-Yi
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fisheries Science, National Taiwan University, 1 Roosevelt Road, Sec, 4, Taipei 106, Taiwan. zoocjy@gate.sinica.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Jyh-Yih
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003167:Complement Activation / Q000235:genetics*; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D019295:Computational Biology; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics*; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D059467:Transcriptome; D014735:Vibrio Infections / Q000662:veterinary*; D044149:Vibrio alginolyticus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D003165:Complement System Proteins