Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR, 97365, USA.
Centre for Shellfish Research, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5S5, Canada.
BMC Genomics. 2023 Oct 23;24(1):631. doi: 10.1186/s12864-023-09744-0.
Host genetics influences the development of infectious diseases in many agricultural animal species. Identifying genes associated with disease development has the potential to make selective breeding for disease tolerance more likely to succeed through the selection of different genes in diverse signaling pathways. In this study, four families of Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) were identified to be segregating for a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 8. This QTL was previously found to be associated with basal antiviral gene expression and survival to ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) mortality events in Tomales Bay, California. Individuals from these four families were phenotyped and genotyped in an attempt to find candidate genes associated with the QTL on chromosome 8.
Genome-wide allele frequencies of oysters from each family prior to being planting in Tomales Bay were compared with the allele frequencies of oysters from respective families that survived an OsHV-1 mortality event. Six significant unique QTL were identified in two families in these genome-wide allele frequency studies, all of which were located on chromosome 8. Three QTL were assigned to candidate genes (ABCA1, PIK3R1, and WBP2) that have been previously associated with antiviral innate immunity in vertebrates.
The identification of vertebrate antiviral innate immunity genes as candidate genes involved in molluscan antiviral innate immunity reinforces the similarities between the innate immune systems of these two groups. Causal variant identification in these candidate genes will enable future functional studies of these genes in an effort to better understand their antiviral modes of action.
宿主遗传学在许多农业动物物种的传染病发展中起着重要作用。鉴定与疾病发展相关的基因，有可能通过在不同信号通路中选择不同的基因，使针对疾病耐受性的选择性育种更有可能取得成功。在这项研究中，鉴定出了四个太平洋牡蛎（Crassostrea gigas）家系在第 8 号染色体上存在一个与数量性状基因座（QTL）相关的分离。先前发现，该 QTL 与加利福尼亚州托马莱斯湾的基础抗病毒基因表达和对牡蛎疱疹病毒 1（OsHV-1）死亡率事件的生存能力相关。对来自这四个家系的个体进行了表型和基因型分析，试图找到与第 8 号染色体上 QTL 相关的候选基因。
在将牡蛎种植于托马莱斯湾之前，比较了每个家系的全基因组等位基因频率与在 OsHV-1 死亡率事件中存活的相应家系的牡蛎的等位基因频率。在这些全基因组等位基因频率研究中，两个家系共鉴定出了 6 个显著的独特 QTL，它们都位于第 8 号染色体上。其中 3 个 QTL 被分配给了候选基因（ABCA1、PIK3R1 和 WBP2），这些基因在脊椎动物中与抗病毒先天免疫有关。
将脊椎动物抗病毒先天免疫基因鉴定为参与软体动物抗病毒先天免疫的候选基因，这加强了这两个群体先天免疫系统之间的相似性。在这些候选基因中识别出因果变异，将有助于未来对这些基因进行功能研究，以更好地了解它们的抗病毒作用模式。
