Distinct Whole Transcriptomic Profiles of the Bursa of Fabricius in Muscovy Ducklings Infected by Novel Duck Reovirus with Different Virulence

Novel duck reovirus (NDRV) is a newly identified reovirus that brings about more severe damage on multiple organs and mortality in various species of waterfowl. We previously characterized the transcriptomic profiles responding to NDRV in the bursa of Fabricius of Muscovy ducklings, which is a major immunological organ against virus infection. However, the molecular mechanisms of variant cell responses in the bursa of Fabricius to NDRV with different virulence is unclear. Here, we conducted a whole transcriptomic analysis to study the effects of two strains, HN10 (virulent NDRV) and JDm10 (artificially attenuated NDRV), on the bursa of Fabricius of Muscovy ducklings. We harvested a large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of the bursa of Fabricius specially induced by HN10 and JDm10, and we found that HN10 induced DEGs enriched in differentiation and development in multiple organs beyond JDm10. Moreover, the ceRNA regulatory network also indicated the different connections among mRNA, lncRNA and miRNA. Interestingly, we further noticed that a population of differential expressed miRNA could particularly target to transcripts of HN10 and JDm10. We took miR-24 as an example and observed that miR-24 could reduce the transcription of GLI family zinc finger 3 (Gli3) and membrane-associated guanylate kinase, WW and PDZ domain containing 1 (Magi1) via recognition 3′ UTR of these two genes by a dual luciferase reporter gene assay in vitro. However, this effect could be compromised by HN10 infection or the ectopic over-expression of the putative miR-24 targeting regions in L1 and L3 fragments of HN10. Taken together, we examined and proposed a novel regulatory competitive mechanism between transcripts of NDRV and Muscovy ducklings for miRNA. These findings may advance the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of NDRV in Muscovy ducklings, and help provide the potential targets for vaccine and drug development against NDRV.