Network analysis of Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) identified in zebrafish after infection with Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) - an in silico approach

Abstract

Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) is a virus that belongs to family of spring viremia of carp (SVC) and frequently causes hemorrhagic symptoms in several types of cyprinids and causes severe economic and environmental losses. Therefore, the mechanism of the infection is not clearly understood. In this study, zebrafish was employed as the infection model to explore the pathogenesis of SVCV. 4 groups of zebrafish tissues were set and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology was employed to analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) after SVCV-infection. A total of 360,971,498 clean reads were obtained from samples, 382 DEGs in the brain and 926 DEGs in the spleen were identified. These DEGs were annotated into three ontologies after gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis showed that these DEGs were primarily related to Influenza. A pathway and Herpes simplex infection pathway in brain and Tuberculosis and Toxoplasmosis pathways in spleen, and all of these pathways may be involved in response to pathogen invasion. The transcriptome analysis results demonstrated changes and tissue-specific influences caused by SVCV in vivo, which provided us with more information to understand the complex relationships between SVCV and its host.