Atlantic salmon head kidney and distal intestine transcriptome responses to diet enriched with soyabean derivatives

In this study we used RNA-Seq approach to understand the transcriptomic response in distal intestine and head kidney of Atlantic salmon after feeding with diet that enriched with soyabean derivatives. The fish fed the soy products had intestinal inflammation altered intestinal morphology, upregulated inflammation associated genes and regulated many genes connected to ion transport (e.g. solute carrier families, chloride channel). The enriched pathways for the upregulated genes were taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, beta-alanine metabolism, pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis, drug metabolism and metabolism of xenobiotics, and steroid biosynthesis. Interestingly the transcriptome of the head kidney did not reveal any differential gene expression, unlike the observation in the distal intestine. Thus, soy-induced allergy in the intestine of Atlantic salmon is marked by changes in intestinal transport mechanisms and metabolic pathways, as well as an increase in immune cell numbers and their function.