MicroRNAs in the immune organs of chickens and ducks indicate divergence of immunity against H5N1 avian influenza

• Published in: FEBS letters 2015-02, Vol.589 (4), p.419-425
• Main Authors: Li, Zezhong, Zhang, Jinyu, Su, Jiazi, Liu, Yinuo, Guo, Jiang, Zhang, Yonghong, Lu, Chunyan, Xing, Shenyang, Guan, Yuntao, Li, Yanbing, Sun, Boxing, Zhao, Zhihui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Avian influenza virus; Bursa of Fabricius - immunology; Bursa of Fabricius - metabolism; Bursa of Fabricius - virology; Chicken; Chickens - immunology; Chickens - metabolism; Chickens - virology; count per million of reads; CPM; Duck; Ducks - immunology; Ducks - metabolism; Ducks - virology; H5N1 HPAIV; H5N1 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza virus; Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza; Immune organ; Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype - immunology; Influenza in Birds - genetics; Influenza in Birds - immunology; Influenza in Birds - metabolism; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Organ Specificity; specific pathogen free; SPF; Spleen - immunology; Spleen - metabolism; Spleen - virology; Thymus Gland - immunology; Thymus Gland - metabolism; Thymus Gland - virology; Transcriptome
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2014.12.019

•We annotated duck microRNAs de novo for the first time.•We showed divergent miRNA expression in immune organs of chickens and ducks.•H5N1 HPAIV caused distinct miRNA expression changes in chicken and duck immune organs. Chickens are susceptible to the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus (HPAIV), whereas ducks are not. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing to analyse the microRNA expression in the spleen, thymus and bursa of Fabricius of H5N1-HPAIV-infected and non-infected chickens and ducks. We annotated the genomic positions of duck microRNAs and we compared the microRNA repertoires of chickens and ducks. Our results showed that the microRNA expression patterns in the homologous immune organs of specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens and ducks diverge substantially. Moreover, there was larger divergence between the microRNA expression patterns in immune organs of HPAIV-infected chickens than HPAIV-infected ducks. Together, our results might help to elucidate the roles of microRNAs in the divergent immunity of chickens and ducks against H5N1 HPAIV.