Transcriptome Differences in Pig Tracheal Epithelial Cells in Response toInfection.

Abstract

generally colonizes mammalian/bird respiratory tracts and mainly causes respiratory disorders in both humans and animals. To date, the effects ofinfection on the respiratory epithelial barriers and molecules in host respiratory epithelial cells in their response toinfection are still not well-known. In this study, we used newborn pig tracheal epithelial (NPTr) cells as anmodel to investigate the effect ofinfection on host respiratory epithelial barriers. By detecting the transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) values of NPTr cells and the expression of several known molecules associated with cell adherens and junctions, we found thatinfection disrupted the barrier functions of NPTr cells. By performing RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), we determined 30 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including the vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) encoding gene, which participated in biological processes (GO:0034330, GO:0045216, and GO:0098609) closely related to epithelial adhesion and barrier functions. These 30 DEGs participated in 22 significant signaling pathways with a-value < 0.05, including the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta signaling pathway (KEGG ID: ssc04350), hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway (KEGG ID: ssc04066), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance (KEGG ID: ssc01521), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway (KEGG ID: ssc04668), and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway (KEGG ID: ssc04010), which are reported to have roles in contributing to the production of inflammatory factors as well as the regulation of epithelial adhesion and barrier function in other tissues and organisms. The results presented in this study may help improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of.