Gene expression profile after Spring Viraemia Carpae Virus (SVCV) infection in zebrafish mutants rag1 -/- versus wt

Immune responses in higher vertebrates are classically separated into innate and adaptive (or specific) immunity. However, important gaps of knowledge about how adaptive responses are generated in lower vertebrates still remain unsolved. In order to explore the relative importance of adaptive and innate immune responses, we have studied zebrafish transcriptional responses to an infection with the Spring Viraemia of Carp virus (SVCV) in rag1-/- zebrafish mutants compared to wild type zebrafish by using both genome wide and immunological-targeted gene expression microarrays. Both wild type (wt) and mutant (rag1) zebrafish were divided in two groups with 3 individuals per group. First group was infected with 10^5 pfu per ml of SVCV, second group was mock-infected. Two days after challenge zebrafish were sampled, head kidney and spleen of each fish were extracted and pooled between each group. The experiment was repeated once to obtain two biological replicates.