Effect of secondary attack by Aeromonas hydrophila on the expression level of hif genes in common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Abstract

Hypoxia-inducible factors (hifs) are involved in infectious diseases inflammatory reactions, and immune regulation. Common carp, a representative allotetraploid species that has undergone genome-wide replication events, has important research value. In this study, common carp were infected twice with Aeromonas hydrophila. Liver tissues of common carp were collected at 4 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 3 days, 7 days post-first infection and 4 h, 12 h, 24 h post-second infection. The mRNA levels of hif genes were determined at different time points. The hif2a-2, hif3a-2, hif3b-1 and hif3b-2 expression levels in the infected group were upregulated when compared with those in the control group, whereas the expression levels of other genes were downregulated after the second infection. This indicates that the effect of A. hydrophila infection on gene expression pattern is dependent on the host, pathogen, infected tissue and gene. Pressure analysis of the hif gene family revealed that the non-synonymous substitution to synonymous substitution ratio of 12 hif genes was <1, which indicated that they were in a state of purification and selection. Combined with the differences between copy genes, the polyclonal antibodies against Hif1b-1 and Hif1b-2 were successfully prepared in this study. Western blot analysis showed that the protein expression of Hif1b-1 and Hif1b-2 reached to the highest level 48 h after the first infection. After the second A. hydrophila infection, the protein expression levels of Hif1b-1 and Hif1b-2 reached the highest levels at 4 and 48 h, respectively. This may indicate that the Hif1b-1 and Hif1b-2 genes in common carp play an important role in the immune mechanism at the protein level. The findings of this study will lay the foundation for future studies on the immune regulatory function of common carp hif genes, which may aid in devising novel therapeutic strategies for common carp diseases, such as A. hydrophila infection.

Keywords: Aeromonas hydrophila; hifs; antibodies; common carp; immunoreaction; reinfection.