MiRNA-seq analysis of spleen and head kidney tissue from aquacultured largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) in response to Aeromonas hydrophila infection

• Published in: Functional & integrative genomics Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 101 - 111
• Main Authors: Zhou, Jian, Zhao, Han, Zhang, Lu, Li, Qiang, Huang, Zhipeng, Zhao, Zhongmeng, Ke, Hongyu, Xiao, Yu, Su, Xutao, Liu, Qiao, Yang, Song, Zhao, Liulan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 1-Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; Aeromonas hydrophila; AMP; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Aquaculture; Bass; Biochemistry; Bioinformatics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Cell culture; Cell cycle; Disease resistance; Fish diseases; Forkhead protein; Immune response; Kidneys; Kinases; Life Sciences; Metabolic pathways; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Micropterus salmoides; miRNA; Molecular modelling; Original Article; Phospholipids; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Protein kinase; Sepsis; Septicemia; Signal transduction; Spleen; Threonine; Spleen and head kidney; miRNA-Seq; Largemouth bass; Immune response; Aeromonas hydrophila
• DOI: 10.1007/s10142-020-00763-8
• ISSN: 1438-793X

Recently, the same fish diseases, which have been found in pond farming, have been found in the newly tested largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides ) system. Bacterial septicemia caused by Aeromonas hydrophila occurs frequently in largemouth bass culture leading to significant economic losses. To investigate the role miRNA in the largemouth bass disease resistance, twelve (2 tissues (spleen and head kidney) × 2 experimental groups (infected and control) × three biological replicates) small RNA libraries were constructed and sequenced with miRNA-seq. A total of 26 differentially expressed miRNAs, 8 upregulated and 18 downregulated, were identified in the spleen, and 19 differentially expressed miRNAs, 9 upregulated and 10 downregulated, were identified in head kidney (fold change ≥ 2 or ≤ 0.5 and P  ≤ 0.05). The differentially expressed miRNAs with the largest fold change were selected for target gene prediction using GO and KEGG analysis. Six miRNAs in the spleen and 5 miRNAs in the head kidney were selected. Analysis showed that, of all the immune and metabolic pathways, the FoxO signaling pathway was enriched in both the spleen and head kidney groups. Common target genes of the pathway included AMP-activated catalytic subunit alpha 1 ( prkaa1 ), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase ( pik3r3b ), serine/threonine-protein kinase ( plk2 ), and forkhead box protein G1 ( foxg1a ). MiRNAs (such as miR-126-5P, miR-126-3P) are involved in immune response and cell cycle functions as they regulate targeted genes in the FoxO pathway. These results will enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying immune responses to bacterial septicemia and facilitate molecular-assisted selection of resistant strains of largemouth bass.