Transcriptome Analysis of Responses to Dengue Virus 2 Infection in Aedes albopictus (Skuse) C6/36 Cells

Abstract

Dengue virus (DENV), a member of the Flavivirus genus of the Flaviviridae family, can cause dengue fever (DF) and more serious diseases and thus imposes a heavy burden worldwide. As the main vector of DENV, mosquitoes are a serious hazard. After infection, they induce a complex host–pathogen interaction mechanism. Our goal is to further study the interaction mechanism of viruses in homologous, sensitive, and repeatable C6/36 cell vectors. Transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology was applied to the host transcript profiles of C6/36 cells infected with DENV2. Then, bioinformatics analysis was used to identify significant differentially expressed genes and the associated biological processes. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to verify the sequencing data. A total of 1239 DEGs were found by transcriptional analysis of Aedes albopictus C6/36 cells that were infected and uninfected with dengue virus, among which 1133 were upregulated and 106 were downregulated. Further bioinformatics analysis showed that the upregulated DEGs were significantly enriched in signaling pathways such as the MAPK, Hippo, FoxO, Wnt, mTOR, and Notch; metabolic pathways and cellular physiological processes such as autophagy, endocytosis, and apoptosis. Downregulated DEGs were mainly enriched in DNA replication, pyrimidine metabolism, and repair pathways, including BER, NER, and MMR. The qRT-PCR results showed that the concordance between the RNA-Seq and RT-qPCR data was very high (92.3%). The results of this study provide more information about DENV2 infection of C6/36 cells at the transcriptome level, laying a foundation for further research on mosquito vector–virus interactions. These data provide candidate antiviral genes that can be used for further functional verification in the future.