Differential modulation of host genes in the kidney of brown trout Salmo trutta during sporogenesis of Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (Myxozoa)

Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (Myxozoa) is the causative agent of proliferative kidney disease in various species of salmonids in Europe and North America. In Europe, spores of T. bryosalmonae develop in the kidney of infected brown trout Salmo trutta and are released via urine to infect the freshwater bryozoan Fredericella sultana. The transcriptomes of kidneys of infected and non-infected brown trout were compared by suppressive subtractive hybridization. Differential screening and a subsequent NCBI BLAST analysis of expressed sequence tags revealed 21 transcripts with functions that included cell stress and cell growth, ribonucleoprotein, signal transduction, ion transporter, immune response, hemoglobin and calcium metabolisms. Quantitative real time PCR was used to verify the presence of these selected transcripts in brown trout kidney at sporogonic stages of T. bryosalmonae development. Expression of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A, prothymosin alpha, transforming protein RhoA, immunoglobulin light chain and major histocompatibility complex class I were up-regulated significantly in infected brown trout. Expression of both the hemoglobin subunit beta and stanniocalcin precursor were down-regulated significantly in infected brown trout. This study suggests that cell stress and cell growth processes, signal transduction activities, erythropoiesis and calcium homeostasis of the host are modulated during sporogonic stages of parasite development, which may support the sporogenesis of T. bryosalmonae in the kidney of brown trout.