Comparative analysis of brain transcriptomes altered during JEV infection in wild type and IRF8 knockout C57Bl/6 mice

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a causative agent of encephalitis, mostly prevalent in Asia and South-Asian countries. Neuroinflammation is the hallmark of encephalitis, mediated in parts through the activation of brain-resident microglial cell, thus playing a critical role in determining pathogenesis. Deregulated activity of microglia can be lethal for the brain tissue. Interferon Regulatory Factor 8 (Irf8) mediates differentiation and transformation of microglia to reactive phenotypes and also regulates antiviral response through cross-talk with interferon pathway. In this study, we have conducted a comparative study between JEV infected C57BL/6 wild type and Irf8 Knockout (IRF8-/-) to identify the genes directly or indirectly regulated by IRF8. Overall design: In this study,we included 4 group- C57BL/6 wild type-mock (n=2) ,WT_JEV (n=3), IRF8-/- mock (n=2), IRF8-/-_JEV (n=3)