Transcriptional Profiling of Leucocyte Count Variation from Porcine Peripheral Blood Reveals Differential Gene Expression

Abstract

Leucocytes have tremendous health-check importance related to the individual antiviral capacity of pigs and other mammals. However, the molecular mechanism of the immune response of blood leucocytes in pigs is not completely known. This study investigated the leucocyte-count variation before and after poly I:C stimulation in a Duroc-Erhualian F2 population. Pigs with increased and decreased differences in leucocyte counts were coded as increased responder (IR) and decreased responder (DR), respectively. Then, we used microarray technology to compare the gene-expression profiles of both groups of pigs. Transcriptomic analysis identified 129 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in IR pigs and 136 DEGs in DR pigs. Forty-one common DEGs showed that both groups had similar expression patterns of immune responses. These results illustrated a differential expression in both groups. Furthermore, qPCR experiment was performed to verify the differential-expression profile. Functional annotation of the DEGs indicated that both IR and DR pigs were similar in several biological processes, including innate immune response, and also exhibited distinct differences in biological processes, molecular function, and pathways. These results provided insights into the mechanism underlying the antiviral capacity of pigs. Trial registration number is CAS Registry Number 24939-03-5.