title: Transcriptomic analysis of mouse liver reveals a potential hepato-enteric pathogenic mechanism in acute Toxoplasma gondii infection.
abstract: Toxoplasma gondii is a worldwide spread pathogen which can infect all tissues of its host. The transcriptomic responses of infected brain and spleen have been reported. However, our knowledge of the global transcriptomic change in infected liver is limited. Additionally, T. gondii infection represents a highly dynamic process involving complex biological responses of the host at many levels. Herein, we describe such processes at a global level by discovering gene expression changes in mouse livers after acute infection with T. gondii ToxoDB#9 strain.
  
  
  
  Global transcriptomic analysis identified 2,758 differentially expressed transcripts in infected liver, of which 1,356 were significantly downregulated and 1,402 upregulated. GO and KEGG database analyses showed that host immune responses were upregulated, while the metabolic-related processes/pathways were downregulated, especially xenobiotic metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, energy metabolism, and bile biosynthesis and secretion. The metabolism of more than 800 chemical compounds including anti-Toxoplasma prescribed medicines were predicted to be modulated during acute T. gondii infection due to the downregulation of enzymes involved in xenobiotic metabolism.
  
  
  
  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first global transcriptomic analysis of mouse liver infected by T. gondii. The present data indicate that during the early stage of liver infection, T. gondii can induce changes in liver xenobiotic metabolism, upregulating inflammatory response and downregulating hepatocellular PPAR signaling pathway, altering host bile biosynthesis and secretion pathway; these changes could enhance host intestinal dysbacteriosis and thus contribute to the pathological changes of both liver and intestine of infected mice. These findings describe the biological changes in infected liver, providing a potential mechanistic pathway that links hepatic and intestinal pathologies to T. gondii infection.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730046, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jun-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730046, People's Republic of China.|College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan Province, 410128, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK.
authors.forename: Hany M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Elsheikha
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730046, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hui-Qun
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730046, People's Republic of China. siyang.huang@hotmail.com.|Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, 225009, People's Republic of China. siyang.huang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Si-Yang
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730046, People's Republic of China. xingquanzhu1@hotmail.com.|Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, 225009, People's Republic of China. xingquanzhu1@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015536:Down-Regulation; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000235:genetics; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology*; D008109:Liver Diseases, Parasitic / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D047492:Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology*; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D047492:Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors
keywords: Liver function; Mouse liver; RNA-seq; Toxoplasma gondii; Transcriptome