Early antiviral response and virus-induced genes in fish

• Published in: Developmental and comparative immunology 2011-12, Vol.35 (12), p.1204-1214
• Main Authors: Verrier, Eloi R., Langevin, Christelle, Benmansour, Abdenour, Boudinot, Pierre
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Fish; Fish Diseases - immunology; Fish Diseases - virology; Fish Proteins - genetics; Fish Proteins - immunology; Fish Proteins - metabolism; Fishes - genetics; Fishes - immunology; Fishes - virology; Gene Expression Regulation - immunology; GTP Phosphohydrolases - genetics; GTP Phosphohydrolases - immunology; GTP Phosphohydrolases - metabolism; Immunity, Innate; Immunology; Innate immunity; Interferon; Interferons - immunology; ISG; Life Sciences; Protein Kinases - genetics; Protein Kinases - immunology; Protein Kinases - metabolism; Signal Transduction - immunology; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases - genetics; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases - immunology; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases - metabolism; Ubiquitins - genetics; Ubiquitins - immunology; Ubiquitins - metabolism; Virus; Virus Diseases - immunology; Virus Diseases - virology; Viruses - immunology
• ISSN: 0145-305X; 1879-0089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2011.03.012

In fish as in mammals, virus infections induce changes in the expression of many host genes. Studies conducted during the last fifteen years revealed a major contribution of the interferon system in fish antiviral response. This review describes the screening methods applied to compare the impact of virus infections on the transcriptome in different fish species. These approaches identified a “core” set of genes that are strongly induced in most viral infections. The “core” interferon-induced genes (ISGs) are generally conserved in vertebrates, some of them inhibiting a wide range of viruses in mammals. A selection of ISGs – PKR, vig-1/viperin, Mx, ISG15 and finTRIMs – is further analyzed here to illustrate the diversity and complexity of the mechanisms involved in establishing an antiviral state. Most of the ISG-based pathways remain to be directly determined in fish. Fish ISGs are often duplicated and the functional specialization of multigenic families will be of particular interest for future studies.