Global gene expression analysis in skin biopsies of European red deer experimentally infected with bluetongue virus serotypes 1 and 8

Bluetongue virus (BTV) is a double-stranded RNA virus transmitted by blood-feeding biting midges of the genus Culicoides to wild and domestic ruminants, causing high morbidity and variable mortality. The aim of this study was to characterize differential gene expression in skin biopsies of red deer (Cervus elaphus) hinds experimentally infected with BTV serotypes 1 and 8. Skin biopsies were collected from BTV-1 and BTV-8 experimentally infected and control hinds at 14 and 98 days post-infection (dpi). Global gene expression profile in response to BTV infection was characterized at 14 dpi using a bovine microarray together with real-time RT-PCR analysis of differentially expressed genes at 14 and 98 dpi. Eighteen genes were upregulated and three were downregulated in response to virus infection, with no significant differences between BTV-1 and BTV-8 infected hinds. Seven unique genes, six upregulated (ISG15, PSMB8, PSMB9, BOLA, C1qA, C4) and one downregulated (FOS) were over-represented after conditional test for biological process gene ontology, which affected five molecular pathways (RIG-1, proteasome, MHC-1, complement, TLR) implicated in host immune response. BTV infection had a minor and transient effect on gene expression in hinds, as shown by the very few genes that were differentially expressed in response to infection at 14 dpi, most of which had similar expression levels between infected and uninfected animals at 98 dpi. These results suggested that red deer could control BTV infection with little effect on host molecular pathways.