Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (8): 3395-3407.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.08.013

• Animal Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characteristics Analysis of TGEV Infection Mediated by IPEC-J2 with Knockout of pAPN Gene

Zhentao XIA1(), Nan WANG1, Wanjie WANG1, Qilü ZHOU1, Lei HUANG2, Yulian MU1,*()   

  1. 1. Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
    2. Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China
  • Received:2024-01-23 Online:2024-08-23 Published:2024-08-28
  • Contact: Yulian MU E-mail:17093646235@163.com;mouyulian@caas.cn

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to explore the characteristics of porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) infection mediated by porcine aminopeptidase N (pAPN) gene knockout intestinal porcine epithelial cell line J2 (IPEC-J2) and to provide theoretical basis for further understanding the mechanism of pAPN gene in the process of TGEV infection. The study was divided into 3 groups, pAPN gene knockout IPEC-J2 group (IPEC-J2-KO group), wild-type IPEC-J2 group (IPEC-J2-WT group), and wild-type IPEC-J2 group not inoculated with TGEV (Mock group), with 3 replicates set up in each group. Firstly, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was used to determine the best time point for collecting cell samples following inoculation with TGEV strain. Secondly, the off-target effect of IPEC-J2-KO was detected. Then, the infection characteristics of IPEC-J2-KO, IPEC-J2-WT inoculated with TGEV and Mock were analyzed by qPCR, western blot (WB), indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), and 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID50). Finally, the expression of NF-κB p65 and its phosphorylated protein pp65 in Mock, IPEC-J2-WT and IPEC-J2-KO were detected by WB. The results of qPCR showed that 24 hours after exposure was the best time point to collect cell samples to evaluate the impact of TGEV on IPEC-J2; The off-target analysis results showed that no off-target effects were detected in IPEC-J2-KO; The results of virus infection characteristic analysis showed that the virus copy number and virus titer in IPEC-J2-KO were significantly lower than those in IPEC-J2-WT (P < 0.001). Compared with the Mock, there was no significant difference in virus copy number and virus titer in IPEC-J2-KO (P>0.05), and no expression of TGEV-N protein was detected in IPEC-J2-KO. In addition, compared with the Mock, after inoculation with TGEV, the phosphorylation level of NF-κB p65 was significantly increased in the IPEC-J2-WT group (P < 0.001), while there was no significant difference in IPEC-J2-KO group (P>0.05). This study results showed that IPEC-J2-KO can effectively resist TGEV infection, and TGEV did not affect the activity of the transcription factor NF-κB in the innate immunity-related signaling pathway in IPEC-J2-KO. This study provided the evidence that IPEC-J2 could serve as a cell model for the study of TGEV infection characteristics, and laid the foundation for elucidating the mechanism of pAPN gene in TGEV invading host cells and researching new disease-resistant pig varieties.

Key words: porcine aminopeptidase N, IPEC-J2, TGEV, NF-κB

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