Digital gene expression analysis in the midgut of 4008 silkworm strain infected with cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus

Abstract

Digital Gene Expression was performed to investigate the midgut transcriptome profile of 4008 silkworm strain orally infected with BmCPV. A total of 4,498,263 and 4,258,240 clean tags were obtained from the control and BmCPV-infected larvae. A total of 752 differentially expressed genes were detected, of which 649 were upregulated and 103 were downregulated. Analysis results of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway showed that 334 genes were involved in the ribosome and RNA transport pathways. Moreover, 408 of the 752 differentially expressed genes have a GO category and can be categorized into 41 functional groups according to molecular function, cellular component and biological process. Differentially expressed genes involved in signaling, gene expression, metabolic process, cell death, binding, and catalytic activity changes were detected in the expression profiles. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to verify the expression of these genes. The upregulated expression levels of Calreticulin, FK506-binding protein, and protein kinase c inhibitor gene probably led to a calcium-dependent apoptosis in the BmCPV-infected cells. The results of this study may serve as a basis for future research not only on the molecular mechanism of BmCPV invasion but also on the anti-BmCPV mechanism of silkworm.

Keywords: Bombyx mori; Cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus; Digital Gene Expression; Midgut.