Project description:In order to elucidate the infection mechanisms of Eimeria tenella and the chicken immune response, chickens were infected with Eimeria tenella strain Hougton sporozoites. Samples were taken at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10 days post-infection and mRNA sequenced. A dual-RNA seq analysis was carried out, comparing the expression of infected chickens during each sampling time point with uninfected chickens and comparing E. tenella samples during the infection with a sample of pure sporozoites. The results show a variety of response signals in the chicken, both previously known and unknown, as well as a clear role for a variety of infection-related genes in E. tenella
Project description:To gain insights into the molecular mechnism governing the drug resistance of Eimeria tenella, two drug-resistant strains of E. tenella, maduramicin-resistant (MRR) strain and diclazuril-resistant (DZR) strain were induced.We carried out comparative transcriptome analyses of a drug-sensitive strain (DS) and two drug-resistant strains (MRR and DZR) of E. tenella by RNA-seqencing. A total of 1070 DEGs, 672 upregulated and 398 downregulated, were identified in MRR vs. DS; and 379 DEGs, 330 upregulated and 49 downregulated, were detected in DZR vs. DS. Functional annotation analysis identified several DEGs coding for proteins associated with catalytic activity in the DZR strain that were involved in glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Other DEGs were associated with ion binding and ion transmembrane transporter activity in the MRR strain. Some DEGs coded for surface antigens that were downregulated in two drug-resistant strains involved invasion, pathogenesis, and host–parasite interactions.These results contribute to developing rapid molecular methods to detect drug resistance of Eimeria spp. in poultry.
Project description:Relative expression levels of mRNAs in chicken cecal epithelia experimentally infected with Eimeria tenella were measured at 4.5 days post-infection. Two weeks old chickens were uninfected (negative control) or were orally inoculated with sporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella. Cecal epithelia samples were collected from >12 birds in infected or uninfected group at 4.5 d following infections, in which samples from 4 birds were pooled together to form a total 3 biological replicates in each group. Parasite merozoites were also collected from four infected chickens at 5 d after infections. Uninfected control samples, merozoites and infection group samples were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We used Affymetrix GeneChip chicken genome arrays to detail the chicken cecal epithelia gene expression in the control and E. tenella-infected birds.
