Abstract
White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) has been affected by Ictavirus acipenseridallo 2 (AciHV-2) outbreaks since the early 1990s. Previous studies have demonstrated immunomodulatory effects of AciHV-2 on white sturgeon juveniles. In this study, white sturgeon skin (WSSK-1) cells were infected with AciHV-2 at 20 °C and RNA was isolated from infected and non-infected controls 10 days post-inoculation to investigate the transcriptional profiles of the host and the virus during an active infection. From the host perspective, 2507 transcripts were upregulated and 287 transcripts were downregulated during infection. Gene ontology was employed using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a reference, and 792 of the differentially expressed transcripts were identified via homology. Of particular interest is a downregulated transcript identified to be a homolog of a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily. In addition, several additional transcripts associated with negative regulation of the immune response were identified to be upregulated in infected cells. From the pathogen perspective, the transcriptional profile confirms all previously predicted open reading frames at various levels of expression. This information solidifies the hypothesis that AciHV-2 induces immunomodulation of white sturgeon cellular machinery, and presents the WSSK-1 cell lines as a good model for future in vitro studies.