Gene expression profiles in the brain of ferrets infected with HeV and NiV-B.

<p>Ferrets were infected with 5,000 TCID₅₀ of HeV and NiV-B and euthanized at 3 and 5 d.p.i. (n = 3 per group, except for HeV_D5 with n = 2) and together with an uninfected control group (n = 2). Transcriptomic analysis of frontal lobe tissue was performed by RNA-seq. A) Number of significantly up- and down-regulated genes with respect to the control group (fold-variation>±1.5 and FDR<0.05) at 3 and 5 d.p.i. B) Evolution of gene enrichment score (Fisher’s exact test p-value) of the Innate Immune Response category (Gene Ontology) throughout the infection. C) Functional gene classification of differentially expressed genes in the brain tissue. Regulated genes were subjected to functional classification and a selected ¹Gene Ontology categories and ²KEGG Pathways that are related to the immune responses and cell growth signaling are shown. For each functional category, the number of up- and down-regulated genes and the level of significance of the enrichment (Fisher’s exact test p-value) are indicated. D-E) Evolution in the mRNA expression levels of selected macrophage markers and lymphocyte markers, respectively, during HeV and NiV-B infection in the brain tissue. Dark grey shaded areas indicate no variation with respect to the control group (<±1.5 fold-change).