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Relative quantification of immune-regulatory genes in two rainbow trout strains, Oncorhynchus mykiss, after exposure to Myxobolus cerebralis, the causative agent of whirling disease

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Abstract

Expression of immune-regulatory genes that code for cyclooxigenase-2 (COX-2), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), and two isoforms of interleukin-1beta (IL-1β1 and IL-1β2) was studied in susceptible and non-susceptible rainbow trout strains for 200 days after exposure to Myxobolus cerebralis. Expression of COX-2, IL-1β1, and IL-1β2 increased 5 min post exposure (p.e.) and was always more elevated in the susceptible strain than in the non-susceptible strain. In both strains, expression of COX-2 returned to the control level within a few hours p.e. Expression of IL-1β1 and IL-1β2 showed two elevated waves in both strains until 4 days p.e. Expression of TGF-β in the non-susceptible strain was elevated at nearly all sampling points, but was decreased in the susceptible strain until up-regulation between 4 and 20 days p.e.; TGF-β was the only gene where the expression in the non-susceptible strain was more elevated than in the susceptible strain. Rainbow trout of the non-susceptible strain appeared to resist infection by M. cerebralis with only minor transcriptional regulation of the genes investigated. Increased transcriptions of genes in the susceptible strain may be the result of an inability to antagonize the infection.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Whirling Disease Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service and by the German Research Foundation (DFG, EI 174/3–1).

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  1. Institute of Zoology, Fish Biology and Fish Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Munich, Kaulbachstrasse 37, 80539, Munich, Germany

    Vanessa I. C. Severin & Mansour El-Matbouli

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  1. Vanessa I. C. Severin
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  2. Mansour El-Matbouli
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Correspondence to Mansour El-Matbouli.

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Severin, V.I.C., El-Matbouli, M. Relative quantification of immune-regulatory genes in two rainbow trout strains, Oncorhynchus mykiss, after exposure to Myxobolus cerebralis, the causative agent of whirling disease. Parasitol Res 101, 1019–1027 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0582-z

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