Identification of Functional Gene Modules Associated With STAT-Mediated Antiviral Responses to White Spot Syndrome Virus in Shrimp.

Guanghui Zhu,Jun Wu,Shihao Li,Xing-Ming Zhao,Fuhua Li

doi:10.3389/fphys.2019.00212

Abstract

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is one of the major threats to shrimp aquaculture. It has been found that the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) protein plays an important role in the antiviral immunity of shrimp with a WSSV infection. However, the mechanism that underlies the STAT-mediated antiviral responses in shrimp, against WSSV infection, remains unclear. In this work, based on the gene expression profiles of shrimp with an injection of WSSV and STAT double strand RNA (dsRNA), we constructed a gene co-expression network for shrimp and identified the gene modules that are possibly responsible for STAT-mediated antiviral responses. These gene modules are found enriched in the regulation of the viral process, JAK-STAT cascade and the regulation of immune effector process pathways. The gene modules identified here provide insights into the molecular mechanism that underlies the STAT-mediated antiviral response of shrimp, against WSSV.

Highlights

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a highly lethal and contagious virus in penaeid shrimp, with huge economic consequences in commercial fishery and farming of the Pacific white shrimp, tiger prawn, Atlantic white shrimp, and so on
The gene co-expression network was constructed based on gene expression profiles across 14 shrimp samples injected with signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) double strand RNA (dsRNA) and WSSV (Table 1)
The information of network topology of those modules affected by STAT during WSSV infection, was utilized to identify important genes and pathways in the antiviral response affected by STAT against WSSV infection

Summary

Introduction

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a highly lethal and contagious virus in penaeid shrimp, with huge economic consequences in commercial fishery and farming of the Pacific white shrimp, tiger prawn, Atlantic white shrimp, and so on. Once an outbreak of WSSV occurs, it wipes out entire populations in many shrimp farms within a few days and leads to enormous economic losses (Flegel et al, 2008). It has been reported that there are some genes that have revealed WSSV pathogenesis based on the transcriptome of shrimp with WSSV infection. García et al (2009) employed PCR technology to compare the transcriptomes in hemocytes of WSSV-infected shrimp with uninfected ones. They found that penaeidin-3 isoforms and crustin were over-expressed in hemocytes of WSSV-infected pre-challenged Penaeus vannamei (García et al, 2009). They found that penaeidin-3 isoforms and crustin were over-expressed in hemocytes of WSSV-infected pre-challenged Penaeus vannamei (García et al, 2009). Shekhar et al (2015) utilized DNA microarray technology to explore the genes of host immune responses to WSSV pathogenesis

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Results

Conclusion