Transcriptomic analysis of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) treated with zymosan a reveals that lncRNAs and inflammation-related genes mediate the protection conferred against Aeromonas salmonicida

13 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables.-- Under a Creative Commons license

Aeromonas salmonicida is one of the most harmful pathogens in finfish aquaculture worldwide. Immunostimulants such as β-glucans are used to enhance the immunity of cultured fish. However, their effects on fish physiology are not completely understood. In the present work, we evaluated the effect of a single intraperitoneal (ip) injection of zymosan A on fish survival against A. salmonicida infection. A single administration of this compound protected fish against A. salmonicida challenge and reduce the bacterial load in the head kidney one week after its administration. Transcriptome analyses of head kidney samples revealed several molecular mechanisms involved in the protection conferred by zymosan A and their regulation by long noncoding RNAs. The transcriptome profile of turbot exposed only to zymosan A was practically unaltered one week after ip injection. However, the administration of this immunostimulant induced significant transcriptomic changes once the fish were in contact with the bacteria and increased the survival of the infected turbot. Our results suggest that the restraint of the infection-induced inflammatory response, the management of apoptotic cell death, cell plasticity and cellular processes involving cytoskeleton dynamics support the protective effects of zymosan A. All this information provides insights on the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the protective effects of this widely used immunostimulant

Our laboratory is funded by projects PID2020-119532RB-I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), MetDisFish from Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (MAPA) and European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) (Spain) and IN607B 2019/01 from Consellerıa de Economıa, Emprego e Industria (GAIN), Xunta de Galicia (Spain). We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)

Peer reviewed