Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Agro-animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Insect Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology, National Centre for Scientific Research Demokritos, Institute of Biosciences and Applications, Athens, Greece.
Insect Sci. 2021 Jun;28(3):662-679. doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.12796. Epub 2020 Jul 22.
Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a DNA virus that causes huge losses to the silkworm industry but the piRNA responses during BmNPV infection in the silkworm remain uninvestigated. Here, silkworm piRNA profiles of uninfected and BmNPV-infected fat body and midgut were determined by high-through sequencing in the early stages of BmNPV infection. A total of 2675 and 3396 genome-derived piRNAs were identified from fat body and midgut, respectively. These genome-derived piRNAs mainly originated from unannotated instead of transposon regions in the silkworm genome. In total, 572 piRNAs were associated with 280 putative target genes in fat body and 805 piRNAs with 380 target genes in midgut. Compared to uninfected tissues, 322 and 129 piRNAs were significantly upregulated in BmNPV-infected fat body and midgut, respectively. In addition, 276 and 117 piRNAs were significantly downregulated. Moreover, differentially expressed (DE) piRNAs during BmNPV infection differed significantly between fat body and midgut. Putative DE piRNA-targeted genes were associated with "response to stimulus" and "environmental information processing" in fat body after infection with BmNPV, which may indicate an active piRNA response to BmNPV infection in fat body. This study may lay the foundation for future research of the potential roles of the piRNA pathway and specific piRNAs in BmNPV pathogenesis.
家蚕核型多角体病毒（BmNPV）是一种 DNA 病毒，它给家蚕业造成了巨大的损失，但家蚕感染 BmNPV 时的 piRNA 反应仍未被研究。在这里，在 BmNPV 感染的早期阶段，通过高通量测序确定了未感染和感染 BmNPV 的脂肪体和中肠的家蚕 piRNA 图谱。从脂肪体和中肠中分别鉴定出了 2675 个和 3396 个基因组衍生的 piRNA。这些基因组衍生的 piRNA 主要来源于非注释区而不是转座子区。总共 572 个 piRNA 与脂肪体中的 280 个假定靶基因相关，805 个 piRNA 与中肠中的 380 个靶基因相关。与未感染组织相比，BmNPV 感染的脂肪体和中肠中分别有 322 个和 129 个 piRNA 显著上调。此外，有 276 个和 117 个 piRNA 显著下调。此外，BmNPV 感染期间脂肪体和中肠中差异表达的 piRNA 有显著差异。假定的 DE piRNA 靶向基因与感染 BmNPV 后的脂肪体中的“对刺激的反应”和“环境信息处理”相关，这可能表明脂肪体对 BmNPV 感染的 piRNA 反应活跃。本研究为进一步研究 piRNA 通路和特定 piRNA 在 BmNPV 发病机制中的潜在作用奠定了基础。
