Chinese goose (Anser cygnoides) CD8a: cloning, tissue distribution and immunobiological in splenic mononuclear cells

Goose Mx and OASL Play Vital Roles in the Antiviral Effects of Type I, II, and III Interferon against Newly Emerging Avian Flavivirus

Duck Tembusu virus (TMUV), an emerging avian flavivirus, is highly pathogenic to birds and has the potential to become a zoonotic pathogen. Here, the molecular antiviral mechanism of goose type I, II, and III interferon (goIFNα, goIFNγ, and goIFNλ), the key components of the innate immune pathway, against TMUV was studied. We found that the transcription of goIFNs was obviously driven by TMUV infection in vivo and in vitro, and the titers and copies of TMUV were significantly reduced following treatment with goIFNs. The results of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) revealed that goIFN stimulation triggered a set of differentially expressed genes at different levels and a positive regulatory feedback loop of IFN release against infection. Two important interferon-stimulated genes, goMx and goOASL, were identified as workhorse IFNs in the inhibition of TMUV replication. The antiviral effects of goMx and goOASL were confirmed by transient overexpression and knockdown assay in vitro. Overall, our findings defined that goose Mx and OASL play key roles in the antiviral effects of type I, II, and III interferon against the TMUV. These results extend our understanding of the transcriptional profile of the goose IFN-mediated signaling pathway and provide insight into the antiviral mechanism of goIFNs against flavivirus infection.

De novo transcriptomic analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes from the Chinese goose: gene discovery and immune system pathway description

Background

The Chinese goose is one of the most economically important poultry birds and is a natural reservoir for many avian viruses. However, the nature and regulation of the innate and adaptive immune systems of this waterfowl species are not completely understood due to limited information on the goose genome. Recently, transcriptome sequencing technology was applied in the genomic studies focused on novel gene discovery. Thus, this study described the transcriptome of the goose peripheral blood lymphocytes to identify immunity relevant genes.

Principal Findings

De novo transcriptome assembly of the goose peripheral blood lymphocytes was sequenced by Illumina-Solexa technology. In total, 211,198 unigenes were assembled from the 69.36 million cleaned reads. The average length, N50 size and the maximum length of the assembled unigenes were 687 bp, 1,298 bp and 18,992 bp, respectively. A total of 36,854 unigenes showed similarity by BLAST search against the NCBI non-redundant (Nr) protein database. For functional classification, 163,161 unigenes were comprised of three Gene Ontology (Go) categories and 67 subcategories. A total of 15,334 unigenes were annotated into 25 eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOGs) categories. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database annotated 39,585 unigenes into six biological functional groups and 308 pathways. Among the 2,757 unigenes that participated in the 15 immune system KEGG pathways, 125 of the most important immune relevant genes were summarized and analyzed by STRING analysis to identify gene interactions and relationships. Moreover, 10 genes were confirmed by PCR and analyzed. Of these 125 unigenes, 109 unigenes, approximately 87%, were not previously identified in the goose.

Conclusion

This de novo transcriptome analysis could provide important Chinese goose sequence information and highlights the value of new gene discovery, pathways investigation and immune system gene identification, and comparison with other avian species as useful tools to understand the goose immune system.