“…Using the High-Capacity Reverse Transcription Kit with random primers (Applied Biosystems, Waltham, MA, USA) according to manufacturer’s instructions, complementary deoxyribonuclease (cDNA) synthesis was performed for 500 ng (cTEC supernatants) or 2000 ng (tracheas) of RNA per sample. qPCR targeting the IBV nucleoprotein gene (N) was performed for quantification of IBV viral genome load in cTEC supernatants and trachea and for host mRNA gene expression in the tracheal tissues, using gene-specific primers ( Table S1 , [ 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ]) at a final concentration of 5 nM (Sigma-Aldrich, Saint-Louis, MO, USA) and PowerUp SYBR Green Master Mix (Applied Biosystems, Burlington, ON, Canada) in a 20 µL reaction according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Furthermore, a 10-fold dilution series of the IBV-N gene plasmid was used to generate the standard curve, as previously described [ 68 ].…”