Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND) related microRNAs in Litopenaeus vannamei infected with AHPND-causing strain of Vibrio parahemolyticus

Abstract

BackgroundAcute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) has emerged as a major debilitating disease that causes massive shrimp death resulting in substantial economic losses in shrimp aquaculture. Given that several diseases and infections have been associated with microRNAs (miRNAs), we conducted a comparative transcriptomic analysis using the AHPND (VA) and non-AHPND (VN) strains of Vibrio parahemolyticus to identify miRNAs potentially involved in AHPND pathogenesis in Litopenaeus vannamei.ResultsA total of 83 miRNAs (47 upregulated and 36 downregulated) were significantly differentially expressed between the VA and VN challenged groups, while 222 target genes of these miRNAs were predicted. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the miRNAs target genes were involved in multiple biological processes including metabolic pathways, amoebiasis, Vibrio cholerae infection etc. Finally, interaction network and qPCR (Real-time Quantitative PCR) analysis of 12 potential key AHPND-related miRNAs and their predicted target genes, revealed their possible involvement in modulating several immune-related processes in the pathogenesis of AHPND.ConclusionsWe have shown using comparative transcriptomic analysis, miRNAs and their target genes that are responsive to AHPND V. parahemolyticus infection in shrimp, therefore suggesting their possible role in defense response to AHPND V. parahemolyticus infection.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-4728-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

MicroRNA and mRNA interactions coordinate the immune response in non-lethal heat stressed Litopenaeus vannamei against AHPND-causing Vibrio parahaemolyticus

“…Small RNA libraries prepared from the NLHS-treated and VP AHPND -infected L. vannamei hemocytes (NLHS-VP) generated 3 million reads across 3 libraries, which revealed 41 DEM homologs, and 27 up-regulated and 14 down-regulated miRNAs. Previously, there were 47 up-regulated and 36 down-regulated miRNA homologs identified in VP AHPND challenged L. vannamei hemocytes 10 . In this study, eight miRNA homologs that included lva-miR-184, lva-let-7, lva-miR-9, lva-miR-305, lva-miR-71, lva-miR-2, lva-miR-274, and lva-miR-317 were found to be DEMs, similar to a previous study from 2018 10 .…”

“…Previous small RNA-Seq study has identified differentially expressed miRNAs from L. vannamei hemocytes upon VP AHPND infection. 222 shrimp miRNA target genes (involved in various biological functions) that encode proteinase inhibitors, apoptosis-related proteins, and heat shock proteins were predicted 10 . Analysis of the expression of different miRNAs, in response to bacterial infections, indicates miRNAs are contributors in the host innate immune response, and thus help to illustrate the general role of miRNAs in immunity 11 .…”

The role of shrimp microRNAs in immune response and beyond

“…Fifteen miRNAs were differentially expressed in response to heat‐stress; target gene prediction and functional annotation indicated that several shrimp cellular processes, such as signal transduction, transcription, lipid metabolism, etcetera, were subject to miRNA‐mediated regulation in response to heat‐stress (Zheng et al . ).…”

“…The bacteria Vibrio parahemolyticus has been associated to AHPND (Lee et al 2015), but studies from diverse perspectives are needed to understand the related pathogenic mechanisms. A recent work identified differentially expressed miRNAs following infection of shrimp with AHPND and non-AHPND strains of V. parahemolyticus (Zheng et al 2018b). The miRNA transcriptome comparative analysis, from L. vannamei, showed 47 up-regulated and 36 down-regulated miRNAs after challenge shrimp with V. parahemolyticus strains.…”

“…The miRNA transcriptome comparative analysis, from L. vannamei, showed 47 up-regulated and 36 down-regulated miRNAs after challenge shrimp with V. parahemolyticus strains. Twelve differentially expressed and potential AHPND-related miRNAs, including miR-210, miR-10b and miR-193, were validated through qPCR and the predicted target genes of these miR-NAs may be involved in several immune-related processes (Zheng et al 2018b).…”