Next Generation Sequencing Facilitates Quantitative Analysis of H5N1 Wild Type and NS1-truncated Lung Transcriptomes in SPF chickens

H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has raised global concern for causing huge economic losses in poultry industry. By using reversal genetic technical, we have rescued a H5 wild-type virus rS and its NS1-truncated virus S-NS99, harboring only 99 amino acids in the amino terminus of NS1. We then used a high-throughput RNA-seq method to analyze host and pathogen transcriptomes in the lungs of chickens infected with rS and S-NS99. Sequenced numbers of viral transcripts and expression levels of host immune-related genes at 1 day post infection (dpi) were higher in rS-infected than S-NS99-infected chickens. The numbers of immune response of rS-infected chickens by Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment were higher than S-NS99-infected chickens. KEGG pathway analysis revealed rS infection could provoke significantly stronger immune response than S-NS99. Collectively, our data provide new insight into the underlying mechanisms of the differential length NS1 of avian influenza viruses. Lung mRNA profiles of SPF chickens infected with NS-truncated H5N1 AIV and wild type were generated by deep sequencing using HiSeq 2500 Sequencing System.