Transcription analysis of the response of chicken bursa of Fabricius to avian leukosis virus subgroup J strain JS09GY3

• We detected the transcription profile of chicken bursa response to ALV-J at 18 embryo-days, 10 and 30 day-old.
• 594 gene transcripts displaying differential expression were identified during ALV-J infection.
• 3 notable signalling pathways, cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, JAK-STAT and the RIG-1-like receptor were found.
• Some tumourigenesis genes, ETV7, MMP9, and NOV, were over-expressed in ALV-J infected chicken bursa.

BackgroundAvian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) causes tumours and immunosuppression in chickens. The host-ALV interactions at the transcriptional level are unknown. In this study, gene expression profiling was performed to analyse the bursa response induced by ALV-J strain JS09GY3 in chickens.ResultsA total of 594 gene transcripts displaying differential expression during ALV-J infection were identified. These differentially expressed genes are involved in binding, biological regulation, metabolic processes (MYF6 and FABP3), response to stimulus (F13A1 and CNGA3) and immune system processes (LY86, CATHL2, CCL4, and OASL), and several differentially expressed genes (e.g., ETV7, MMP9, and NOV) are involved in tumourigenesis. Eight differentially expressed genes were confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR). Based on pathway analysis, the notable signalling pathways mainly included cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, the JAK-STAT signalling pathway and the RIG-1-like receptor signalling pathway.ConclusionsThe gene expression profile obtained in this study may aid a better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of ALV-J infection in chickens.