Gene-expression changes induced by Feline immunodeficiency virus infection differ in epithelial cells and lymphocytes
1Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
Insights
Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection alters gene expression in cat kidney cells and lymphocytes. Most transcriptional changes were modest, reflecting the virus's non-cytopathic nature.
Area of Science:
- Comparative virology
- Molecular biology
- Immunology
Background:
- Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) serves as a model for lentivirus research.
- In vivo, FIV targets lymphocytes and macrophages, but in vitro studies often use epithelial cells.
- Understanding cellular responses to FIV is crucial for comparative lentivirus biology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the transcriptional responses of epithelial cells and primary lymphocytes to FIV infection.
- To investigate differences in gene expression between FIV subtypes A and B in different cell types.
- To analyze the temporal dynamics of gene expression changes following FIV infection.
Main Methods:
- Utilized microarray analysis with 1700 human expressed sequence tags to assess gene expression.
- Employed Significance Analysis of Microarrays (sam) software for data analysis.
- Collected data from five time points over 48 hours post-infection in both CRFK cells and primary lymphocytes.
Main Results:
- Identified 132 differentially expressed genes in epithelial cells and 24 in lymphocytes.
- Observed modest gene-expression changes (0.62-1.62 magnitude), with early induction followed by downregulation after 4 hours.
- Found distinct transcriptional profiles between epithelial cells and lymphocytes, with heat-shock cognate protein 71 as a common induced gene.
Conclusions:
- FIV infection induces modest transcriptional changes across a broad range of genes in both epithelial and lymphocyte cell types.
- Transcriptional responses in CRFK cells differ significantly from those in primary lymphocytes.
- The observed gene-expression patterns suggest a relatively non-cytopathic nature of FIV infection.
Abstract:
Infection of cats with Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is an important model for understanding comparative lentivirus biology. In vivo, FIV infects lymphocytes and monocyte/macrophages, but in vitro infection is commonly investigated in epithelial Crandell-Reese Feline Kidney (CRFK) cells. In this study, the transcriptional responses of CRFK cells and primary lymphocytes to infection with FIV 34TF, a cloned subtype A virus, and FIV USgaB01, a biological subtype B isolate, were determined. Reverse-transcribed mRNA from both cell types was hybridized to microarrays containing 1700 human expressed sequence tags in duplicate and data were analysed with Significance Analysis of Microarrays (sam) software. Results from six experiments assessing homeostatic cross-species hybridization excluded 3.48 % inconsistently detected transcripts. Analysis of data from five time points over 48 h after infection identified 132 and 24 differentially expressed genes in epithelial cells and lymphocytes, respectively. Genes involved in protein synthesis, the cell cycle, structure and metabolism were affected. The magnitude of gene-expression changes ranged from 0.62 to 1.62 and early gene induction was followed by downregulation after 4 h. Transcriptional changes in CRFK cells were distinct from those in lymphocytes, except for heat-shock cognate protein 71, which was induced at multiple time points in both cell types. These findings indicate that FIV infection induces transcriptional changes of a modest magnitude in a wide range of genes, which is probably reflective of the relatively non-cytopathic nature of virus infection.
