Transcriptome analysis reveals the activation of neuroendocrine-immune system in shrimp hemocytes at the early stage of WSSV infection

Fuxuan Wang,Jianhai Xiang,Shihao Li,Fuhua Li

doi:10.1186/s12864-019-5614-4

Abstract

BackgroundFunctional communications between nervous, endocrine and immune systems are well established in both vertebrates and invertebrates. Circulating hemocytes act as fundamental players in this crosstalk, whose functions are conserved during the evolution of the main groups of metazoans. However, the roles of the neuroendocrine-immune (NEI) system in shrimp hemocytes during pathogen infection remain largely unknown.ResultsIn this study, we sequenced six cDNA libraries prepared with hemocytes from Litopenaeus vannamei which were injected by WSSV (white spot syndrome virus) or PBS for 6 h using Illumina Hiseq 4000 platform. As a result, 3444 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 3240 up-regulated genes and 204 down-regulated genes, were identified from hemocytes after WSSV infection. Among these genes, 349 DEGs were correlated with innate immunity and categorized into seven groups based on their predictive function. Interestingly, 18 genes encoded putative neuropeptide precursors were induced significantly by WSSV infection. Furthermore, some genes were mapped to several typical processes in the NEI system, including proteolytic processing of prohormones, amino acid neurotransmitter pathways, biogenic amine biosynthesis and acetylcholine signaling pathway.ConclusionsThe data suggested that WSSV infection triggers the activation of NEI in shrimp, which throws a light on the pivotal roles of NEI system mediated by hemocytes in shrimp antiviral immunity.

Highlights

Functional communications between nervous, endocrine and immune systems are well established in both vertebrates and invertebrates
We examined the transcriptional profiles of the hemocytes in L. vannamei during White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection, with aims to identify the molecular components of NEI network in shrimp hemocytes and explore its potential roles during the early stage of WSSV infection
Using Illumina HiSeqTM 4000, a total of 304,011,446 raw reads were obtained from the Pacific white shrimp, of which 137,558,608 reads were from phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)-challenged hemocytes (PHc group) and 166,452,838 reads were from WSSV-challenged hemocytes (WHc group)

Summary

Introduction

Functional communications between nervous, endocrine and immune systems are well established in both vertebrates and invertebrates. The roles of the neuroendocrineimmune (NEI) system in shrimp hemocytes during pathogen infection remain largely unknown. The NEI regulatory network consists of nervous system, endocrine system and immune system, which are integrated into a single system [1]. The regulatory network is conserved in highly divergent and evolutionarily distant animals such as Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) belongs to the Penaeidae family of decapod crustaceans and has become the most commonly cultured shrimp species in. Understanding the host immune responses to pathogen infection is the foundation to develop a strategy for disease control and prevention. Next-generation sequencing technology has been widely applied to understand the molecular responses in shrimp against pathogens, such as WSSV [10], Taura syndrome virus (TSV) [11], Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V.p) [12]. More efforts are still needed to understand the defense mechanisms of shrimp during pathogen infection

Methods

Results

Conclusion