Yu Hailiang, Tang Jianqiang, Dong Liyue, Tang Meihui, Arif AreeJ, Zhang Tao, Zhang Genxi, Xie Kaizhou, Zhao Zhenhua, Dai Guojun
College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
Poultry Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yangzhou, China.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Jun;269(Pt 1):131807. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.131807. Epub 2024 Apr 25.
Coccidiosis is an important parasitic protozoan disease in poultry farming, causing huge economic losses in the global poultry industry every year. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of RNA macromolecules that play important roles in the immune response to pathogens. However, the expression profiles and functions of miRNAs during Eimeria tenella (E. tenella) infection in chickens remain mostly uncharacterized. In this study, high-throughput sequencing of cecal tissues of control (JC), resistant (JR), and susceptible (JS) chickens led to the identification of 35 differentially expressed miRNAs among the three groups. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed miRNAs were mainly associated with the TGF-beta, NF-kB, and Jak-STAT signaling pathways. Notably, gga-miR-2954 was found to be significantly upregulated after coccidial infection. Functional analysis showed that gga-miR-2954 inhibited the production of the inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-8 in sporozoite-stimulated DF-1 cells. Mechanistically, we found that gga-miR-2954 targeted the RORC gene and that RORC promoted the inflammatory response in sporozoite-stimulated DF-1 cells. In conclusion, our study was the first to identify differentially expressed miRNAs in chicken cecal tissue during E. tenella infection and found that gga-miR-2954 regulates the host immune response to coccidial infection in chickens by targeting the RORC gene.
球虫病是家禽养殖中一种重要的寄生原生动物疾病，每年给全球家禽业造成巨大经济损失。微小RNA（miRNA）是一类RNA大分子，在对病原体的免疫反应中发挥重要作用。然而，鸡感染柔嫩艾美耳球虫（E. tenella）期间miRNA的表达谱和功能大多仍未明确。在本研究中，对对照（JC）、抗性（JR）和易感（JS）鸡的盲肠组织进行高通量测序，在三组中鉴定出35个差异表达的miRNA。功能富集分析表明，差异表达的miRNA主要与TGF-β、NF-κB和Jak-STAT信号通路相关。值得注意的是，发现球虫感染后gga-miR-2954显著上调。功能分析表明，gga-miR-2954抑制子孢子刺激的DF-1细胞中炎性细胞因子IL-6、IL-1β、TNF-α和IL-8的产生。机制上，我们发现gga-miR-2954靶向RORC基因，且RORC促进子孢子刺激的DF-1细胞中的炎症反应。总之，我们的研究首次鉴定了鸡感染E. tenella期间盲肠组织中差异表达的miRNA，并发现gga-miR-2954通过靶向RORC基因调节鸡对球虫感染的宿主免疫反应。
