Microarray analysis of differential gene expression in sensitive and resistant pig to Escherichia coli F18

In this study, Agilent two-colour microarray-based gene expression profiling was used to detect differential gene expression in duodenal tissues collected from eight full-sib pairs of Sutai pigs differing in adhesion phenotype (sensitivity and resistance to Escherichia coli F18). Using a two-fold change minimum threshold, we found 18 genes that were differentially expressed (10 up-regulated and eight down-regulated) between the sensitive and resistant animal groups. Our gene ontology analysis revealed that these differentially expressed genes are involved in a variety of biological processes, including immune responses, extracellular modification (e.g. glycosylation), cell adhesion and signal transduction, all of which are related to the anabolic metabolism of glycolipids, as well as to inflammation- and immune-related pathways. Based on the genes identified in the screen and the pathway analysis results, real-time PCR was used to test the involvement of ST3GAL1 and A genes (of glycolipid-related pathways), SLA-1 and SLA-3 genes (of inflammation- and immune-related pathways), as well as the differential genes FUT1, TAP1 and SLA-DQA. Subsequently, real-time PCR was performed to validate seven differentially expressed genes screened out by the microarray approach, and sufficient consistency was observed between the two methods. The results support the conclusion that these genes are related to the E. coli F18 receptor and susceptibility to E. coli F18.