Transcriptome Profile of the Chicken Thrombocyte: New Implications as an Advanced Immune Effector Cell

Thrombocytes are nucleated platelets involved in immune functions such as pathogen recognition and release of pro-inflammatory bioactive compounds when exposed to bacterial and viral molecules. However, the complete role of these cells in innate and adaptive immune responses is not understood, and little is known about their biology at the molecular-genetic level. Highly sensitive RNA-sequencing technologies were used to analyze the complete transcriptome of thrombocytes for the first time with analytical resolution focused on cell-based components of the immune system/response. Amongst all the genes listed in the current chicken genome assembly, 10,041 gene transcripts were found in the chicken thrombocyte. After 1-hour in vitro stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, Salmonella minnesota), 490 genes were upregulated and 359 genes were downregulated, respectively, with at least a 1-fold change relative to unexposed thrombocytes. Additionally, by constructing a de novo assembly, we were able to identify a total of 3,030 novel genes in the thrombocyte transcriptome. The information generated here is useful in development of novel solutions to lower the economic burden and zoonotic threat that accompanies infectious diseases for birds and fish. In addition, the resources created here have translational utility as a model system to find orthologous genes and genes related to its enucleated counterpart, the platelet.