Abstract
Pasteurella multocida is a highly versatile pathogen that infects a wide range of animals, including goats, causing pneumonia and hemorrhagic septicemia. Circular RNA (circRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA that plays an important role in regulating cellular metabolism. However, whether and how circRNA is involved in regulating immune responses in the goat lung has not been reported. Thus, this study was designed to examine the function of circRNA in goats infected with Pasteurella multocida. Goats were assigned into one of two groups: an uninfected control group (CK) and an infected group challenged with P. multocida. Compared with the CK group, which remained healthy, the infected goats showed clinical signs of infection, including depression, cough, nasal discharge, and dyspnea, along with elevated body temperature and lesions in the lung. Whole-transcriptome sequencing and small RNA sequencing were then performed using lung samples from goats from each group. A total of 138 circRNA, 56 microRNAs (miRNA), and 2,673 messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules were significantly differentially expressed in the P. multocida-infected group compared with the CK group. Randomly selected differentially expressed circRNA, miRNA, and mRNA molecules (n = 5 per group) were then validated by quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis. Gene ontology (GO) analysis of the source genes indicated that six immune-related terms were enriched among the differentially expressed cirRNA molecules, including inflammatory response, immune effector process, cell activation involved in immune response, cytokine-mediated signaling pathway, response to endogenous stimulus, and immune response. The corresponding circRNA molecules were then selected for construction of a competitive endogenous RNA network to identify networks that may be involved in the immune response to P. multocida infection. The results indicated that P. multocida HN01 may cause pneumonia and stimulate an immune response in goats via regulation of circRNA expression. This study presents the first comprehensive circRNA profile in response to P. multocida infection in goats, thus, providing a basis for understanding the function of circRNA in the host immune response to P. multocida infection.
Highlights
Pasteurella multocida is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects a wide range of domestic and wild animals
To assess whether P. multocida persisted in the goats following inoculation, serum samples were collected from each goat for PCR-based detection of P. multocida
Goats challenged with 1.6 × 108 colony-forming units (CFUs) of a caprine P. multocida type D strain all died within 8 days of infection, while at least some of the goats challenged with P. multocida strains originally isolated from other species survived until the end of the 14 day study period [15]
Summary
Pasteurella multocida is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects a wide range of domestic and wild animals. P. multocida causes zoonotic infection in humans, generally as a result of a bite from a cat or dog [1]. P. multocida is associated with both chronic and acute infections that result in significant morbidity, with typical clinical signs including pneumonia, atrophic rhinitis, dermonecrosis, cellulitis, abscesses, meningitis, hemorrhagic septicemia, and even death, in animals [2]. Pasteurellosis, the general term for P. multocida infection, is one of the most important respiratory diseases in animals worldwide, with the associated mortality, reduced weight gain, and increased treatment costs resulting in significant economic losses in animal husbandry industries worldwide. Pasteurellosis is one of the most common diseases of goats, with outbreaks usually leading to high mortality and economic losses. The pathogenesis of P. multocida infection in goats is not clear.
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