J Vet Sci.  2023 Jan;24(1):e13. 10.4142/jvs.22229.

HPAI-resistant Ri chickens exhibit elevated antiviral immune-related gene expression

• Vu TH
• Heo J
• Hong Y
• Kang S
• Thanh Tran HT
• Dang HV
• Truong AD
• Hong YH

• KMID: 2539428
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.22229

Abstract

Background
Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) is an extremely contagious and high mortality rates in chickens resulting in substantial economic impact on the poultry sector. Therefore, it is necessary to elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of HPAIV for infection control.
Objective
Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) can effectively avoid the limitations of subjective screening for differential gene expression. Therefore, we performed GSEA to compare HPAI-infected resistant and susceptible Ri chicken lines.
Methods
The Ri chickens Mx(A)/BF2(B21) were chosen as resistant, and the chickens Mx(G)/ BF2(B13) were selected as susceptible by genotyping the Mx and BF2 genes. The tracheal tissues of HPAIV H5N1 infected chickens were collected for RNA sequencing followed by GSEA analysis to define gene subsets to elucidate the sequencing results.
Results
We identified four differentially expressed pathways, which were immune-related pathways with a total of 78 genes. The expression levels of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12), chemokines (CCL4 and CCL5), type interferons and their receptors (IFN-β, IFNAR1, IFNAR2, and IFNGR1), Jak-STAT signaling pathway genes (STAT1, STAT2, and JAK1), MHC class I and II and their co-stimulatory molecules (CD80, CD86, CD40, DMB2, BLB2, and B2M), and interferon stimulated genes (EIF2AK2 and EIF2AK1) in resistant chickens were higher than those in susceptible chickens.
Conclusions
Resistant Ri chickens exhibit a stronger antiviral response to HPAIV H5N1 compared with susceptible chickens. Our findings provide insights into the immune responses of genetically disparate chickens against HPAIV.

Keyword

Influenza A virus; RNA-seq; GSEA; Signaling pathway; Ri chicken