Effect of viral RNA mimics and ISA virus infection on expression of key genes ofthe Atlantic salmon interferon system
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Abstract: We have studied the innate immune responses of Atlantic salmon and how this responds to\nstimulation and infection by the aquatic orthomyxovirus Infectious salmon anemia virus\n(ISAV). This work has focused on the Type I interferon (IFN) system which is critically\nimportant in the vertebrate immune response against viral infections. As a part of this work we have studied the Atlantic salmon IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF7). In mammals IRF7 is the major regulator of IFN transcription in response to viral infections, and our results show that the salmon homolog performs similar tasks. Furthermore, we have investigated the stimulatory effect of two synthetic ligands that induce the IFN system by mimicking viral infections in the cell and compared this to the immune response against ISAV. Our results indicate that both specialized immune cells and non-immune cells induce the IFN system in response to these treatments, but we also show that ISAV is able to interfere with the host` IFN response in order to successfully replicate. Finally, our studies show that the ISAV\ngenome encodes two genes, S7ORF1 and S8ORF2, which is involved in antagonizing the IFN\nresponse during infections.
Author: Øyvind Kileng
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2113043004