Aeromonas hydrophila is a conditional pathogen impacting public hygiene and safety.
Hemolysin is a
virulence factor of Aeromonas hydrophila that causes erythrocyte
hemolysis, yet its transcriptional response to Cyprinus rubrofuscus remains unknown. Our investigation confirmed the
hemolysis of
hemolysin from A. hydrophila. Serum
enzyme activity was evaluated weekly after C. rubrofuscus were immunized with
hemolysin Ahh1. The results showed that the
hemolysin enhances the serum
superoxide dismutase (SOD),
lysozyme (LZM), and
catalase (CAT) activity, which reached a maximum on day 14. To elucidate the molecular interaction between
hemolysin from A. hydrophila and the host, we performed transcriptome sequencing on the spleen of C. rubrofuscus 14 days post
hemolysin infection. The total number of clean reads was 41.37 Gb, resulting in 79,832 unigenes with an N50 length of 1863 bp. There were 1982 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 1083 upregulated genes and 899 downregulated genes. Transcript levels of the genes, such as LA6BL, CD2, and NLRC5, were significantly downregulated, while those of
IL11, IL1R2, and
IL8 were dramatically upregulated. The DEGs were mainly enriched in the
immune disease,
viral protein interaction with
cytokine and
cytokine receptor, and
toll-like receptor pathways, suggesting that
hemolysin stimulation can activate the transcriptional responses. RT-qPCR experiments results of seven genes,
IL-8, STAT2, CTSK, PRF1, CXCL9, TLR5, and SACS, showed that their expression was highly concordant with
RNA-seq data. We clarified for the first time the key genes and signaling pathways response to
hemolysin from A. hydrophila, which offers strategies for treating and preventing diseases.