ARS | Publication request: Est Analysis O Eimeria-Stimulated Intetinal Intraepithelial Lymphocytes in Chickens

Submitted to: Molecular Biotechnology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: April 11, 2005
Publication Date: April 30, 2005
Citation: Min, W., Lillehoj, H.S., Ashwell, C.M., Van Tassell, C.P., Dalloul, R.A., Matukumalli, L.K., Han, J.Y., Lillehoj, E.P. 2005. Est analysis of Eimeria-stimulated intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes in chickens. Molecular Biotechnology. 30:143-150.

Interpretive Summary: Ability to develop novel strategy against many intestinal diseases of economic importance in poultry has been delayed due to slow progress in technology and our limited understanding of how host intestinal immune system interacts with enteric pathogens in chickens. In this report, ARS scientists, in collaboration with scientists at University of Maryland and George Mason University developed a novel genomic technology to investigate host-pathogen interactions in the gut. Using this technology, scientists are now able to investigate the role of ten thousands genes of chicken intestine in a single experiment. This paper demonstrates the power of using chicken intestinal genomic database to investigate host'pathogen interactions in the gut. This technology will enhance our ability to develop novel control strategy against many poultry enteric pathogens and will lead to better understanding of molecular interactions important in disease process. For example, avian coccidiosis which is the most economically important disease for the poultry industry, application of high-throughput technology as described in this paper will enable rapid identification of host protective immune mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels.

Technical Abstract: Intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) play a critical role in protective immune response to intestinal pathogens such as Eimeria, the etiologic agent of avian coccidiosis. A list of genes expressed by intestinal IELs of Eimeria-infected chickens was compiled using the expressed sequence tag (EST) strategy. The 14,409 ESTs consisted of 1,851 clusters and 7,595 singletons, which revealed 9,446 unique genes in the data set. Comparison of the sequence data with chicken DNA sequences in GenBank identified 125 novel clones. This EST library will provide a valuable resource for profiling global gene expression in normal and pathogen-infected chickens and identifying additional unique immune-related genes.