A comparative synthesis of transcriptomic analyses reveals major differences between WSSV-susceptible Litopenaeus vannamei and WSSV-refractory Macrobrachium rosenbergii

A comparative synthesis of transcriptomic analyses reveals major differences between WSSV-susceptible Litopenaeus vannamei and WSSV-refractory Macrobrachium rosenbergii

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Journal Pre-proof A comparative synthesis of transcriptomic analyses reveals major differences between WSSV-susceptible Litopenaeus vannamei and WSSV-refractory Macrobrachium rosenbergii L. Peruzza, S. Thamizhvanan, S. Vimal, K. Vinaya Kumar, M.S. Shekhar, V.J. Smith, C. Hauton, K.K. Vijayan, A.S. Sahul Hameed PII:

S0145-305X(19)30333-7

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dci.2019.103564

Reference:

DCI 103564

To appear in:

Developmental and Comparative Immunology

Received Date: 16 July 2019 Revised Date:

29 November 2019

Accepted Date: 30 November 2019

Please cite this article as: Peruzza, L., Thamizhvanan, S., Vimal, S., Vinaya Kumar, K., Shekhar, M.S., Smith, V.J., Hauton, C., Vijayan, K.K., Sahul Hameed, A.S., A comparative synthesis of transcriptomic analyses reveals major differences between WSSV-susceptible Litopenaeus vannamei and WSSVrefractory Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Developmental and Comparative Immunology (2020), doi: https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.dci.2019.103564. This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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A comparative synthesis of transcriptomic analyses reveals major differences between

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WSSV-susceptible Litopenaeus vannamei and WSSV-refractory Macrobrachium rosenbergii

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Authors: L. Peruzza1,5,§, S. Thamizhvanan2*, S. Vimal2*, K. Vinaya Kumar3, M.S. Shekhar3, V.J.

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Smith4†, C. Hauton1, K.K. Vijayan3 and A. S. Sahul Hameed2*

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United Kingdom

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2

C. Abdul Hakeem College, Melvisharam - 632 509, Vellore Dist., Tamil Nadu, India.

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3

Genetics and Biotechnology Unit, Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, 75,

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Santhome High Road, R.A Puram, Chennai

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School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, KY16 8LB.

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Present address: Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of

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Padova, Legnaro, Italy

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† 17.02.53 - 02.05.19

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* Contributed equally

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§

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Keywords: White Spot Syndrome Virus; susceptible Litopenaeus vannamei; refractory

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Macrobrachium rosenbergii

School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Hampshire, SO14 3ZH,

Corresponding author: Luca Peruzza, [email protected]

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ABSTRACT: Since the 1990s White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) has severely affected shrimp

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aquaculture worldwide causing a global pandemic of White Spot Disease (WSD) in penaeid

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culture. However, not all decapod species that can be infected by WSSV show the same

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susceptibility to the virus, thus raising interesting questions regarding the potential genetic

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traits that might confer resistance to WSSV. In order to shed light into the genetic markers

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of WSSV resistance, we employed a dual approach: i) we initially analysed the

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transcriptomes derived from the hepatopancreas of two species, the susceptible white

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shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei and the refractory fresh water prawn Macrobrachium

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rosenbergii, both infected with WSSV. We found a large number of differentially expressed

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genes (DEGs) belonging to the immune system (mostly anti-microbial peptides and

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haemolymph clotting components) that were generally up-regulated in M. rosenbergii and

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down-regulated in L. vannamei. Further, in both species we identified many up-regulated

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DEGs that were related to metabolism (suggesting a metabolic shift during the infection)

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and, interestingly, in L. vannamei only, we found several DEGs that were related to moult

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and suggested an inhibition of the moult cycle in this species following WSSV infection. ii)

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we then identified a limited number of genetic markers putatively linked with WSD

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tolerance by employing an ecological genomics approach in which we compared published

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reports with our own RNA-seq datasets for different decapod species infected with WSSV.

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Using this second comparative approach, we found nine candidate genes which are

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consistently down-regulated in susceptible species and up-regulated in refractory species

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and which have a role in immune response. Together our data offer novel insights into gene

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expression differences that can be found in susceptible and refractory decapod species

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infected with WSSV and provide a valuable resource towards our understanding of the

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potential genetic basis of tolerance to WSSV.

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1. INTRODUCTION: White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) is the causative agent of White Spot Disease

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(WSD), a viral disease which appeared in the early 90s in China and Taipei (Stentiford et al.,

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2009) and has, since then, spread across the world causing substantial economic losses for

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shrimp farmers globally (Hauton et al., 2015). WSSV is a dsDNA virus with a particularly wide

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range of host species; in fact, thus far 47 different crustacean species have been reported

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to be infected with WSSV and numerous aquatic organisms (e.g. birds) can act as

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mechanical vectors (Stentiford et al., 2009). Whilst the majority of decapod species infected

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with WSSV show 100% mortality within 10 days following the onset of disease (Escobedo-

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Bonilla et al., 2008), the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii is reported to

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present a refractory phenotype (Hossain et al., 2001; Pais et al., 2007). In fact, as reported

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by Sarathi et al. (2008), Sahul Hameed et al. (2000) and Rajendran et al. (1999), M.

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rosenbergii infected with WSSV (via intramuscular inoculation or oral feeding) showed

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mortality ≤20% in comparison to mortalities ≥50% observed in other decapod species.

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Despite the increasing effort in trying to characterize and understand WSD, the

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molecular/physiological traits that confer resistance to WSD have not been fully elucidated 2

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yet and studies comparing the molecular response to WSSV in refractory and susceptible

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species have still to be conducted.

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The era of next-generation sequencing has allowed researches to investigate how

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tissue gene expression (GE) changes in animals exposed to stressors or infections and thus,

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in recent years, we have seen increasing efforts to understand GE changes in shrimp

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infected with WSSV (Cao et al., 2017; Chen et al., 2013; Du et al., 2016; Du, 2016; Du and Jin,

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2017; Peruzza et al., 2019; Rao et al., 2016; Shi et al., 2018; Zhong et al., 2017). In this

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context, the comparison of transcriptomes between refractive and susceptible species

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would help identify elements that confer refractivity to WSD. However, a large number of

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differentially expressed genes (DEGs) are classically found in RNA-seq experiments and thus

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far it has proved difficult to select a few candidate genes for WSD resistance from such lists

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of DEGs. To overcome this problem Landry and Aubin-Horth (2007) and Pavey et al. (2012)

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have utilised an ecological genomics approach, whereby gene functions are linked to

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observed phenotypes (e.g. resistance/vulnerability to virus) from a database that comprises

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multiple species exposed to the same biotic condition (i.e. WSSV infection). In fact, as stated

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by Pavey et al. (2012), “the systematic association of one gene across multiple experiments

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with a particular condition” (e.g. WSSV refractivity) “can help narrow down (from the large

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number of DEGs of a classic RNA-seq experiment) candidate genes for the trait of interest”.

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Hence, it could be argued that, if a gene contributed to WSSV refractivity, it might be

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predicted to be activated/up-regulated in databases in which the tolerant species was

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subjected to WSSV, whereas the same gene would be inactive/down-regulated in

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susceptible species.

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At physiological level some differences exists between refractive and susceptible

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species when infected with WSSV: for example, following WSSV infection in M. rosenbergii

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the haemolymph is still able to clot (Sarathi et al., 2008) and components of the clotting

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cascade are activated/up-regulated (Cao et al., 2017; Rao et al., 2016), whilst in the

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susceptible species P. indicus, P. chinensis and L. vannamei, haemolymph fails to clot

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(Yoganandhan et al., 2003) and many components of the clotting cascade are down-

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regulated following WSSV infection (Goncalves et al., 2014; Shi et al., 2018). Similarly, some

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authors report that prophenoloxidase (proPO (Sarathi et al., 2008)), antioxidant enzymes

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(e.g. glutathione peroxidase, catalase, (Rao et al., 2016)) and antimicrobial peptides (e.g.

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lectin, galectin, anti-lipopolysaccharide factors (Cao et al., 2017; Rao et al., 2016)) are 3

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activated/up-regulated in M. rosenbergii and suppressed/down-regulated in susceptible

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species (Ji et al., 2011; Kulkarni et al., 2014; Mathew et al., 2007; Mohankumar and

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Ramasamy, 2006; Zhang et al., 2018). Together, these observations suggest the presence of

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important molecular/physiological differences which confer refractivity to WSD in M.

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rosenbergii (compared to susceptible species). However, a candidate gene (or a handful set

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of candidates) responsible for WSD refractivity has yet to be identified yet and key “new”

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candidate genes might await discovery and characterisation.

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In this study, in order to compare GE changes following WSSV infection in

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susceptible and refractive species, we injected the refractive M. rosenbergii (hereafter

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called: Mr) and the susceptible L. vannamei (hereafter called: Lv) with WSSV and we

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analysed the transcriptomes derived from the hepatopancreas of the two species. We found

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that a large number of DEGs represented immune system components (mostly anti-

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microbial peptides and components of the coagulation cascade) and were generally up-

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regulated in Mr and down-regulated in Lv, many up-regulated DEGs in both species were

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related to metabolism (suggesting a metabolic boost) and, interestingly, we found several

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DEGs in Lv only that were related to moult and suggested an inhibition of the moult cycle in

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this species following WSSV infection. Thereafter, to identify few genetic markers putatively

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linked with WSD refractivity, we employed an ecological genomics approach in which we

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analysed published and in-house RNA-seq datasets involving different species infected with

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WSSV to identify markers that were systematically associated with susceptibility or

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refractivity across datasets. We report nine candidate genes which have a proven role in

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the immune response. Overall, our data provide a valuable resource towards our

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understanding of the genetic basis of WSD resistance.

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2. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 2.1 Collection and maintenance of shrimp and freshwater prawn

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Adult White leg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei (12 – 15 g body weight) were

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collected from grow-out ponds located at Minjur, near Chennai, Tamilnadu, India (N

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13°14.307' E 080°15.302'). In these grow-out ponds, the post-larvae were negative for

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WSSV, IHHNV and EHP, at stocking and the shrimp were monitored regularly for these

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pathogens thereafter. The collected shrimp were transported to the laboratory in live

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condition with continuous aeration. The WSSV-free status of the animals was further

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confirmed by nested PCR as described by Lo et al. (1996) using viral DNA extracted from the

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gill tissue of shrimp. In the laboratory, the shrimp were maintained in 1000-l fiberglass tanks

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with airlift biological filters at an ambient temperature of 27–30◦C with salinity between 20

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and 25. Natural seawater pumped from the Bay of Bengal, India was used in all the

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experiments. Suspended particles including sand were removed by allowing the suspended

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particulates to settle. Then, it was treated with sodium hypochlorite at the concentration of

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25 ppm and dechlorinated by vigorous aeration. Finally, it was passed through a sand filter

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and used for the experiments. The animals were fed with artificial pellet feed (CP feed,

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Thailand). Temperature and pH were recorded, salinity was measured with a salinometer

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(Aquafauna, Japan) and dissolved oxygen was estimated by the Winkler method. Before

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conducting experiments, the shrimp were acclimated to the experimental tanks for 5 days.

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After acclimation, shrimp were randomly selected and tested for the presence of WSSV by

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polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using virus specific primers (Sivakumar et al., 2018). Only

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healthy WSSV-free shrimp free were used for the experiments.

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Healthy adult prawns M. rosenbergii (30 to 50 g body weight) were collected from

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grow-out ponds located at Atmakur village near Nellore, India (N 14°35.009' E 079°30.277')

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and transported in live condition with continuous aeration. In the laboratory, the prawns

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were maintained in 1000 l fiberglass tanks with continuous aeration at room temperature

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(27 to 30°C) in freshwater. The animals were fed with commercial pellet feed (CP shrimp

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feed, Thailand).

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2.2 Preparation of WSSV inoculum

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The WSSV inoculum was prepared from WSSV-infected shrimp, L. vannamei with

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clinical signs of reddish coloration, swelling of branchiostegites, whitish abdominal muscle

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and minute spots on the carapace collected from shrimp farms located near Nellore, India

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(N 14°48.417' E 080°02.521'). Head soft tissues from cephalothorax region including gills

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were dissected and homogenized. A 10% suspension was made in NTE buffer (0.2 M NaCl,

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0.02 M Tris-HCl and 0.02 M EDTA, pH 7.4). This suspension was frozen and thawed three

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times, and centrifuged at 3000 g for 20 min at 4oC. The collected supernatant was re-

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centrifuged at 8000 x g for 20 min at 4oC and the final supernatant fluid was filtered through

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a 0.4 µm membrane filter. The filtrate was then stored at -80oC and used for experimental 5

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infection after confirming the presence of WSSV by PCR using virus specific primer

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(Sivakumar et al., 2018).

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2.3 Experimental infection in shrimp and prawn

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Shrimp were injected intramuscularly with WSSV inoculum prepared as described

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above with viral copy number of 105 per individual. Given the fact that a WSSV dose up to 8-

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times higher (i.e. 8*105 viral copies) fails to produce mortality in Mr (Sahul Hameed et al.,

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2000), we decided to use the same dose for the two species. Viral copy number was

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estimated by StepOnePlus Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems, USA) using TaqMan

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Assay. A forward primer 5’ CCC ACA CAG ACA ATA TCG AGA C 3’ and reverse primer 5’ TCG

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CTG TCA AAG GAC ACA TC 3’ were used to amplify a 109-bp fragment from the VP28 gene of

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WSSV, with a TaqMan hydrolysis probe, RT-WSSV-TP109 (5’ FAM-TTC CTG TGA CTG CTG

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AGG TTG GAT-TAMRA 3’). The sample of diluted DNA (20–100 ng) total DNA was added to a

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TaqMan Universal Master Mix (ABI, USA) containing 0.25 µM of each primer and 0.125 µM

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of TaqMan probe in a final reaction volume of 20 µl. The amplification programme consisted

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of 40 cycles of denaturation at 95°C for 30 s, annealing at 60°C for 30 s and extension at

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72°C for 30 s. A standard curve was obtained using serial dilutions of plasmid pVP28 (full-

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length ORF of VP28 gene of WSSV was cloned into pRSETB vector) that were used to

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quantify the WSSV copy number. Each assay was carried out in triplicate (Jang et al., 2009)

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Control animals were inoculated with tissue suspension prepared from uninfected

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shrimp. The experimental shrimp were examined twice a day for gross signs of disease, and

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hepatopancreas sample was collected at different time points and used for transcriptomic

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analysis after confirming the presence of WSSV by PCR as described above.

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Freshwater prawns were injected intramuscularly in the second abdominal segment

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with WSSV inoculum (105 WSSV copy number per prawn) as described above. Control

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animals were injected with the filtrate prepared from healthy shrimp. The experimental

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prawns were examined twice per day for gross signs of disease, and the hepatopancreas

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was collected at different time points and stored -80oC for transcriptomic analysis after

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confirming the presence of WSSV by PCR (Sivakumar et al., 2018).

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2.4 RNA extraction and library preparation

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Hepatopancreatic tissue (30 mg) from Lv and Mr was used to extract total RNA using

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HiPurA™ total RNA miniprep purification kit (Himedia, India) as per the manufacturer's

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instructions. The RNA quality was checked using Agilent Bioanalyzer RNA 6000 nano kit

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(Agilent Technologies). RNA quantity was estimated with Qubit™ RNA HS Assay Kit (Thermo

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Fisher Scientific). Samples with > 7 RNA Integrity Number (RIN) were taken further for

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library preparation.

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mRNA sequencing libraries were prepared using NEBNext® Ultra™ II RNA Library

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Prep Kit for Illumina® following the manufacturer’s instructions. Briefly, 800 ng of total RNA

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was used as input for poly(A) mRNA enrichment using NEBNext® Poly(A) mRNA Magnetic

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Isolation Module followed by fragmentation and reverse transcription to generate cDNA.

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Hairpin adapters were ligated to fragmented double strand cDNA and USER enzyme was

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used to cleave the hairpin structure. Ampure beads were used to purify adapter ligated

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fragments and the purified product was amplified using Illumina Multiplex Adapter primers

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(NEBNext Multiplex Oligos for Illumina Cat#E7500S) to generate sequencing libraries with

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barcodes for each sample. Library quality was checked using Agilent Bioanalyzer DNA 1000

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assay kit and quantity was estimated Qubit HS DNA assay kit. The QC passed libraries were

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sequenced on Illumina Hiseq at Clevergene Biocorp Ltd. (Bangalore, India).

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2.5 Transcriptome assembly, annotation and analysis

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Raw reads from all libraries from Lv and Mr inoculations were quality checked using

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FastQC (https://www.bioinformatics.babraham.ac.uk/projects/fastqc/) and low quality

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reads were removed using AfterQC (Chen et al., 2017) with default parameters. Each species

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was processed separately, and all subsequent steps were repeated for both species. For

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each species, all libraries were used for de novo transcriptome assembly using Trinity/v2.5.1

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(Haas et al., 2013) with “Kmer=25, Min contig length 300” and default parameters. The

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quality of the assembly was assessed using BUSCO/v3.0.2 (Simao et al., 2015) using the

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arthropoda_odb9 database. Reads were mapped to the transcriptome using hisat2 (Kim et

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al., 2015) and featureCounts (Liao et al., 2014) with default parameters.

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For each species, all contigs with at least 1 CPM in ≥ 2 infected replicate samples

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were submitted to the KEGG (Kanehisa and Goto, 2000) Automatic Annotation Server

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(KAAS, http://www.genome.jp/tools/kaas/) to retrieve KEGG pathway maps for each contig

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using GHOSTZ with the single-directional best hit (SBH) method.

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Pairwise differential expression analysis was performed using DESeq (Anders and

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Huber, 2010). Contigs were considered as significantly differentially expressed if the

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absolute log2FoldChange was greater than 2 with p-value ≤ 0.05. 7

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Each transcriptome was annotated against UniProt (The UniProt Consortium, 2017),

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NCBI nr and UniRef 100 databases with BlastX (Altschul et al., 1990) (e-value 1E-04 and

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default options) and InterPro Scan/v5.29-68.0 (Jones et al., 2014) (default options). Hits

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were imported in Blast2GO/v5.2.5 (Conesa et al., 2005) and GO numbers were retrieved

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using “mapping” and “annotation” functions with default options. Blast2GO function “Fisher

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enrichment analysis” was used to perform GO enrichment analysis using default options.

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2.6 Ecological genomics analysis A comparative analysis was performed using our RNA-seq datasets comprising of Lv

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gill tissue infected with WSSV from Peruzza et al. (2019) (Accession: PRJNA524934) and Lv

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and Mr hepatopancreas (from this study) and datasets available from NCBI (Accessions:

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PRJNA437347, PRJNA252894, PRJNA267515, PRJNA428228) to identify important genes

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implicated in the refractivity/susceptibility to WSSV. All available RNA-Seq projects

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concerning WSSV infection experiments on Crustaceans were downloaded from NCBI-SRA

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archive (see details in Fig. 4A). From each dataset reads were mapped to their

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transcriptome with kallisto/v0.43.1 (Bray et al., 2016) and DEGs were detected with

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edgeR/v3.22.3 (Robinson et al., 2010) (FDR cut-off 0.0001 and fold-change ≥ |2|) and

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retained for comparative analysis. The “L. vannamei gill” dataset (from Peruzza et al.

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(2019)) was used as a Reference Set. DEGs from all other datasets were BLASTed/v2.6.0

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(Altschul et al., 1990) against the Reference Set (e-value cut-off 1E -05). To identify DE

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contigs in common between experiments, BLAST hits from all datasets were merged

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together and their frequency in the resulting dataset was determined. Only blast hits with a

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frequency ≥3 were retained and the direction of change in GE (i.e. up- or down-regulation)

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was determined for all hits in their respective dataset. We did not consider the ratio of

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change in GE, as this would not be comparable among different datasets given the fact that

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each dataset was independently mapped to its own transcriptome and DEGs were

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independently calculated for each dataset. BLAST hits were then subjected to a conservative

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validation criterion: viz. to be concordant with the direction of GE change in reference set

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and 3 or more other databases (i.e. be downregulated in reference and >3 other datasets),

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allowing for the opposite direction in GE change in datasets with refractive species. Only

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BLAST hits passing the frequency threshold and the validation criterion were deemed as

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suitable candidates in determining susceptibility to WSSV in susceptible species, such as Lv. 8

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2.7 Validation of bioinformatic analyses by means of Real-Time PCR (qPCR):

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The expression of some DEGs was further confirmed by means of quantitative PCR

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analysis. For each biological sample (n = 3 independent biological samples per treatment)

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the mRNA levels of interesting genes was determined using SYBR green quantitative real-

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time PCR (StepOnePlus, Applied Biosystems, USA). The amplification was performed in a 96-

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well plate in a 10 µL reaction volume containing 5 µL of 2 X SYBR Green Master Mix (ABI,

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USA), 1 µL of diluted cDNA, 0.5 µL (each) of each forward and reverse primers and 3.0 µL of

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DEPC-treated water. DEPC-water for the replacement of cDNA template was used as the

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negative control. The thermal profile for the SYBR green real-time PCR was 95˚C for 10 min,

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followed by 35 cycles of 95˚C for 30 s, 60˚C for 60 s and 72˚C for 60 s. The expression of

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immune-related genes was normalized to the expression of ß-actin gene for each sample.

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Data analysis was executed using mathematical model for relative quantification in real-

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time PCR described by Pfaffl (2001). ∆CT represented the difference between CT for target

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gene and the internal control, and ∆∆CT was obtained by subtracting the ∆CT for the control

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(PBS) from the ∆CT for each sample. The sequence of each primer used can be found in

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Supplementary Table 1. For each gene in each species, an unpaired t-test was used to assess

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for statistical differences between control and WSSV-infected animals and p-values were

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deemed significant at p≤ 0.05.

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3. RESULTS:

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3.1 Transcriptome assembly Illumina RNA-sequencing was conducted on hepatopancreas tissue samples from

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WSSV-infected and control animals (n=3 different individuals for each treatment) sampled

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at 1 day-post-inoculation (dpi) for Lv and sampled at 5 dpi for Mr; the difference in sampling

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time for the two species resides in the different timing required for the development of the

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infection in the two species: while for Lv mortalities >60% are found within 72 hpi (Han-

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Ching Wang et al., 2010; Sarathi et al., 2008), infection in Mr develops slowly, with very low

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mortality rates (i.e. ~0%) and with WSSV being detected up to 50dpi in several tissues

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(Sarathi et al., 2008). Given this substantial difference in duration of (and development of)

9

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WSSV infection, we decided to sample the two species at different time points in order to

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compare “early stage” of infection in both species. For each species one transcriptome was

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generated by combining clean reads from WSSV-infected and control samples. Assembly

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generated 102,290 transcripts (with an N50 value of 1,529) for Mr and 84,229 transcripts

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(with an N50 value of 1,769) for Lv (Supplementary Table 2). The completeness and integrity

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of the assemblies were evaluated by using BUSCO, which revealed that 81.1% and 90.6% of

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the benchmarking orthologous genes were present in Mr and Lv assemblies, respectively.

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Raw sequence data associated with this project have been deposited at NCBI with

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BioProject accession number PRJNA554075 and SRA accession numbers from SRR9670544

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to SRR9670555.

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3.2 Transcriptome comparison To provide a descriptive overview of the composition (in terms of % of genes) in

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relation to the function (in terms of KEGG categories) of all protein coding genes (≥ 50

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residues) in the transcriptomes of the two species, we retained contigs from WSSV-infected

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libraries with CPM ≥2 in at least two replicates, annotated them with KEGG Orthology (KO)

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numbers and retrieved KEGG distribution across different biological pathways (Figure 1A,

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left panel). Overall the two transcriptomes presented a similar composition of genes across

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KEGG categories, with only small differences: in example “signal transduction”, “cancer:

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overview” and “immune system” were more abundant in Lv, while “carbohydrate

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metabolism” and “amino acid metabolism” were more abundant in Mr (Fig. 1A, middle

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panel). Pathways composing the most different categories were further investigated (Figure

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1B and Supplementary Figure 1): inside “Carbohydrate metabolism”, more transcripts

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mapping to “Glycolysis/Gluconeogenesis”, “Citrate cycle” and “Galactose metabolism”

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(essential sugar for the production of Galectins CITA) were found in Mr (Supplementary

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Figure 1) while inside “immune system” differences were mainly linked with the coagulation

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cascade (e.g. “platelet activation and complement”, “coagulation cascade”, Supplementary

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Figure 1).

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3.3 Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs)

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Differential expression analysis was performed for each species separately. In total

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we found 199 DEGs in Mr and 3106 DEGs in Lv (Figure 2A). DEGs from both species were

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mapped to KEGG categories (Figure 2B) and revealed an important difference between up-

318

regulated and down-regulated DEGs, with the vast majority of down-regulated DEGs in Lv

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belonging to metabolism and therefore suggesting an important shift in metabolic

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processes.

321

Fisher’s enrichment analysis on up-regulated DEGs from Mr revealed that several

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immune mechanisms were enriched (e.g. “positive regulation of immune system

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processes”, “defence response to other organism”, “immune response”, “detection of other

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organism”, Fig. 3A). Among the up-regulated DEGs in Mr (Supplementary Table 3) we found

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multiple contigs that BLAST matched to the metabolic enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate

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carboxykinase and several contigs with immune functions, such as antimicrobial peptides

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(e.g. C-type lectins or Ficolin), the phenoloxidase-activating enzyme, integrins and

328

haemolymph clotting components (e.g. coagulation-factor IX or Carboxypeptidase B which

329

downregulates fibrinolysis, hence facilitating haemolymph clotting).

330

Fisher’s enrichment analysis on up-regulated DEGs from Lv revealed that immune

331

pathways and metabolic processes were enriched in WSSV-infected samples (Fig. 3B): in

332

example we found an enrichment of “positive regulation of Wnt signalling pathway”,

333

“phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity”, “glycolytic process” and “gluconeogenesis”

334

in up-regulated DEGs (Fig. 3B). Among the up-regulated DEGs in Lv (Supplementary Table 4)

335

we found contigs blasting against immune genes (e.g. Lectins, a single VWC domain protein

336

and a beta-arrestin 2), stress genes (e.g. Heat shock proteins 21 and 90), several metabolic

337

enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis, glycolysis and anaerobic metabolism, two important

338

crustacean hormones, the crustacean hyperglycaemic hormone (cHH) and the moult

339

inhibiting hormone (MIH), the endocytosis protein flotillin-2 and the cytoskeletal protein

340

actin.

341

Fisher’s enrichment analysis on down-regulated DEGs from Lv revealed that

342

immune, metabolic and moult related processes were enriched in WSSV-infected samples

343

(Fig. 3C): in example we found “complement activation, lectin pathway”, “haemolymph

344

coagulation”, “fatty acid beta-oxidation” and “ecdysone binding” in down-regulated DEGs

345

(Fig. 3C). Among the down-regulated DEGs in Lv in response to WSSV (Supplementary Table 11

346

5) we found multiple immune genes , including several AMPs (e.g. penaeidins, lectins,

347

hemocyanin and macroglobulin), the melanisation protein and the prophenoloxidase

348

activating enzyme, and several haemolymph clotting peptides. Further, several metabolic

349

enzymes belonging to TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation were down-regulated and

350

the ecdysteroid receptors A and B (responsible for binding ecdysone and triggering moult)

351

were down-regulated. Finally, we found down-regulation of apoptotic proteins (e.g. caspase

352

and caspase-3).

353

Viral sequences were identified in transcriptomes from both species (191 and 69

354

WSSV contigs in Lv and Mr, respectively, Fig. 4A). Interestingly, no WSSV contig was found

355

as DEG in Mr, while 39 WSSV DEGs were identified in Lv. These 39 contigs were exclusively

356

expressed in infected Lv (Fig. 4B) and were mostly comprised of genes with no known

357

function, followed by genes encoding for Envelope/Structural proteins and collagen-like

358

proteins (Fig. 4C).

359 360

3.4 Ecological genomics analysis

361

A comparative analysis was performed using our RNA-seq datasets and datasets

362

available from NCBI to identify important genes implicated with tolerance to WSSV. The

363

relevant features of all datasets used in the comparative analysis are reported in Fig. 5A.

364

From all DEGs considered in the analysis, in total only 22 genes from the Reference Set

365

appeared in 3 or more other datasets (Fig. 5B) and were further subjected to the additional

366

validation criterion. In total, 9 genes passed this criterion (Fig. 6). These 9 candidate genes

367

were, in major part, downregulated in susceptible species while they were up-regulated in

368

refractive species. These included the transporters Sialin and Trehalose transporter 1, two C-

369

type lectins, Phenoloxidase 2, two dehydrogenases Formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase

370

and Sorbitol dehydrogenase, and Sulfotransferase and Acetylcholinesterase.

371 372 373

3.5 Validation of bioinformatic analyses by means of Real-Time PCR (qPCR): Quantitative PCR analysis on DEGs confirmed both bioinformatic analyses (i.e. the

374

ecological genomics and transcriptomic analysis, Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 respectively). The 9

375

candidate genes, found in the ecological genomics analysis, were investigated by means of

376

qPCR in control (“Ctrl”) and WSSV-infected (“WSSV”) animals from the refractive Mr and

12

377

susceptible Lv species (Fig. 7). Genes that were classified as up-regulated in WSSV-infected

378

Mr and down-regulated in WSSV-infected Lv at the bioinformatic analysis were DE in a

379

similar fashion following qPCR analysis (compare Fig. 6 and 7). Note that genes

380

Sulfotransferase and Trehalose transporter 1 were not investigated by qPCR in Mr (Fig. 7) as

381

they were not classified as DE in the refractory species’ database (see Fig. 6). Additional

382

DEGs from Lv (mapping to haemolymph clotting processes and immune functions) identified

383

as down-regulated from the transcriptomics analysis, were found as down-regulated in

384

WSSV-infected Lv animals (Fig. 8) by means of qPCR.

385 386

4. DISCUSSION:

387 388

In the present study we investigated the transcriptomic responses of two decapod

389

species (the susceptible Lv and the refractive Mr) infected with WSSV. In the refractive Mr

390

we mainly found up-regulation of immune genes, whereas within the susceptible Lv we

391

found that many DEGs belonged to the immune system (with the majority of them being

392

down-regulated), to metabolic pathways and to the moult process (which was inhibited in

393

WSSV-infected animals). Finally, to identify a small set of candidate genes involved in

394

conferring WSD refractivity we employed a comparative approach by comparing our RNA-

395

Seq datasets (from this study and Peruzza et al. (2019)) and datasets available on NCBI-SRA

396

archive and we identified nine candidate genes which regularly appear down-regulated in

397

susceptible species but up-regulated in refractive species. Overall, our comparative

398

approach and our results provide an important resource for understanding the genetic

399

differences which confer WSD resistance in some species.

400 401 402

4.1 Differentially Expressed Genes To date many transcriptomics studies have been performed to describe GE changes

403

in different decapod species infected with WSSV (Cao et al., 2017; Chen et al., 2013; Du et

404

al., 2016; Du, 2016; Du and Jin, 2017; Peruzza et al., 2019; Rao et al., 2016; Shi et al., 2018;

405

Zhong et al., 2017), but there is still limited knowledge in relation to the genetic traits that

406

confer WSD resistance in some species. By comparing GE changes across multiple

407

susceptible and refractive species we were able to identify major cellular and physiological

13

408

processes altered upon WSSV infection and start unravelling the genetic basis of refractivity

409

to WSD .

410

In total we identified 199 DEGs in Mr and 3106 DEGs in Lv. Not surprisingly a good

411

proportion of DEGs in both species were involved with the immune system and some

412

important differences were observed. In fact haemolymph coagulation, one of the major

413

arms of the humoral immune response in crustaceans (Perdomo-Morales et al., 2018), was

414

triggered in the refractive Mr (as suggested by the up-regulation of facilitators of

415

haemolymph clotting such as coagulation-factor IX and Carboxypeptidase B (Broze and

416

Higuchi, 1996)), while it was inhibited in the susceptible Lv (Fig. 3, Fig. 8 and Supplementary

417

Tables 1 and 3). The ability to form haemolymph clots provide a physical barrier that

418

prevents microbial entrance/diffusion in the hemocoel (Perdomo-Morales et al., 2018) and

419

several authors have reported that Mr haemolymph is still able to clot after WSSV infection

420

(Cao et al., 2017; Sarathi et al., 2008; Zhong et al., 2017) while Lv haemolymph is not

421

(Yoganandhan et al., 2003). Given the fact that many pathogens possess some fibrinolytic

422

protease systems to prevent clotting (Perdomo-Morales et al., 2018), it could be

423

hypothesised that WSSV possesses one which is effective against the susceptible Lv but not

424

against Mr.

425

In Lv, we observed an activation of the RNAi pathway, an important anti-viral

426

immune defence mechanism (Li et al., 2018) and an activation of the Wnt signalling

427

pathway, involved in innate immunity (Du, 2016) and essential for WSSV phagocytosis, as

428

demonstrated by Zhu and Zhang (2013) in D. melanogaster. However, while WSSV infection

429

triggered an immune response which resulted in the up-regulation of many AMPs (e.g. C-

430

type lectin, Ficolin) and the proPO in Mr, in Lv AMPs and the proPO were down-regulated, in

431

agreement with Ji et al. (2011) (Fig. 7, Fig. 8 and Supplementary Table 4). In particular,

432

among the downregulated AMPs in Lv, we identified multiple contigs blasting hemocyanin.

433

This gene has been implicated recently in the production of anti-viral peptides which are

434

able to inhibit the transcription of WSSV genes wsv069 and wsv421, resulting in a significant

435

reduction in WSSV copy numbers in the initial stage of infection (i.e. 2hpi) (Zhan et al.,

436

2018). Further, we found that in Lv beta-arrestin 2 was up-regulated. This gene, as

437

demonstrated by Sun et al. (2016), is able to negatively regulate the Toll-like receptor

438

pathway which is one of the pathogen recognition receptor (PRR) pathways involved in

439

innate immunity (Du and Jin, 2017). Interestingly, Cao et al. (2017) found that this pathway 14

440

was up-regulated in Lv 3-hours after WSSV inoculation, suggesting that, while in Lv in the

441

initial stages of infection (i.e. <3 hpi) an immune response can be triggered (i.e. by up-

442

regulating hemocyanin or the toll-like receptor pathway), in the later stages of the infection

443

WSSV may be able to actively regulate AMPs production, arguably acting on beta-arrestin 2.

444

In Lv many DEGs belonged to major glucose metabolic pathways, suggesting an

445

important metabolic shift in animals following WSSV inoculation, in agreement with Peruzza

446

et al. (2019), Li et al. (2018) and Chen et al. (2016). In fact, the up-regulation of lactate

447

dehydrogenase (involved in anaerobic metabolism), fructose 1,6-biphosphate-aldolase A

448

(involved in glycolysis) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK, involved in

449

gluconeogenesis) coupled with the downregulation of enzymes from Krebs cycle and

450

oxidative phosphorylation suggests a shift towards glycolysis (Chen et al., 2016; Li et al.,

451

2018), known as the Warburg effect. In agreement with the model proposed by Escobedo-

452

Bonilla et al. (2008), this metabolic boost, which was observed in Lv at 1dpi, is found in the

453

early stages of infection to support the energetic demands of viral replication. Interestingly

454

a metabolic boost was also observed in Mr, with the up-regulation of PEPCK,

455

triosephosphate isomerase (involved in glycolysis) and ATP-synthase. However, in the light

456

of Mr’s resistance to WSD and given the fact that no viral gene was found as DE in this

457

species, we could hypothesize that the metabolic boost was the result of a physiological

458

response to counteract the virus by triggering an immune response (further supported by

459

the up-regulation of genes belonging to the clotting cascade and AMPs genes).

460

Multiple physiological processes can be altered by WSSV during the infection as

461

demonstrated by Peruzza et al. (2019). Interestingly, we found that WSSV induced an effect

462

on the moult cycle of Lv: we observed the up-regulation of MIH, a hormone belonging to the

463

crustacean hyperglycaemic family (Manfrin et al., 2015; Manfrin et al., 2016), and the

464

simultaneous down-regulation of ecdysteroid receptors A and B, nuclear receptors activated

465

by 20-hydroxyecdysone and responsible for transcriptional activation of moulting (Song et

466

al., 2017). In accordance with these data, we recently reported that MIH was highly up-

467

regulated in WSSV infected Lv after 18 and 56hpi (Peruzza et al., 2019). Further, Shekhar et

468

al. (2019) reported the up-regulation in WSSV-infected Lv of a miRNA miR-8-5p; this miRNA

469

is associated with the modulation of chitin biosynthesis, which is maximal during inter-

470

moult period (Hornung and Stevenson, 1971), and therefore its up-regulation in infected

471

animals suggests an effect of WSSV on moult cycle. Collectively, it could be hypothesised 15

472

that the observed interference of WSSV with the moult cycle is arguably a viral mechanism

473

to stop energetically demanding physiological activities in the host, such as moult or

474

reproduction (Peruzza et al., 2018), and focus host energies towards viral replication.

475 476 477

4.2 Ecological genomics analysis The comparative bioinformatic approach was thereafter adopted to identify genetic

478

markers putatively linked with refractivity to WSD by comparing our in-house and on-line

479

available datasets involving crustaceans infected with WSSV. We believe the major strength

480

of this analysis is that it allowed us identify common trends (in terms of DEGs being

481

repeatedly flagged as DE in different datasets) in a wide range of datasets generated by

482

different research groups and involving different species (i.e. Lv, Mr, P. monodon and

483

Macrobrachium. nipponense) and different tissues (i.e. gill, hepatopancreas and muscle) at

484

different time points. The fact that some genes were repetitively found as DE in several

485

datasets despite the overall variability present in the dataset (e.g. different species, tissues,

486

time points and research groups) is a clear indication of the importance of the genes in

487

association with WSSV infection. The analysis highlighted nine candidate genes, which were

488

deemed as putatively involved in WSD resistance as they were down-regulated in

489

susceptible species and up-regulated in refractive host species.

490

Sialin is the main transporter of sialic acid from the lysosome (Morin et al., 2004).

491

Sialic acids have different functions and, among all, are involved in immune cell maturation

492

and activation (Wasik et al., 2016). Recently Liu et al. (2018) demonstrated that in the crab

493

Helice tientsinensis Sialin was upregulated in response to LPS and played a critical role in

494

immune responses and in supporting the defence of the host through activation of the

495

lysosome pathway. A key step for viral replication that is still not understood is the ability of

496

WSSV to escape from the lysosome (known as lysosomal escape; reviewed in Verbruggen et

497

al. (2016)) and the down-regulation of Sialin may arguably be key in determining if the virus

498

can get out from the lysosome and replicate or not.

499

Trehalose transporter 1 (Tret-1) is the transporter of trehalose, the main

500

disaccharide used by immune system cells (especially differentiated immune cells, such as

501

haemocytes (Bajgar et al., 2015)) during infection (Zhang et al., 2019; Zhu et al., 2018). In

502

fact, Zhu et al. (2018) demonstrated that dietary supplementation with trehalose increased

503

activity of immune system in Lv. Further, Bajgar et al. (2015) demonstrated in Drosophila sp. 16

504

that infection induces the up-regulation of Trehalose transporter in haemocytes and the

505

transporter is then used to absorb trehalose from haemolymph and subsequently trigger

506

the immune response.

507

Formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase (FDH) is a member of the “one-carbon (1C)

508

metabolism pathway”, a universal metabolic source of 1C units (based on folate) for

509

biosynthetic processes, mainly cell proliferation and division (Ducker and Rabinowitz, 2017).

510

The immune response requires high levels of folate since it is among the most proliferative

511

processes in the body. In fact, as reported by Ducker and Rabinowitz (2017) T-cell activation

512

in mice requires rapid 1C metabolism, involving large GE changes to mobilize existing stored

513

1C and to produce new 1C compounds.

514

Phenoloxidase 2 and C-type lectin are well known for their involvement in the

515

immune system: both genes have been reported as down-regulated in Lv and in

516

Fenneropenaeus chinensis infected with WSSV (Ji et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2007) and up-

517

regulated in Mr (Cao et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2014). Finally, Sorbitol dehydrogenase was

518

reported by Zeng et al. (2013) as down-regulated in Lv following Taura Syndrome Virus

519

infection, Sulfotransferase is involved in metabolism of xenobiotics (Ikenaka et al., 2006)

520

and Acetylcholinesterase is present on the surface of granulocytes of Limulus Polyphemus

521

(Gupta et al., 1991).

522

Overall, our approach identified nine putative candidates that would require

523

additional in-depth investigation in relation to their role during WSSV infection as they

524

could, arguably, be important genes actively controlled by WSSV. In particular, in the light of

525

their role in immune functions, Sialin, Tret-1 and FDH could arguably be targeted by WSSV

526

to overcome the host defences, hence explaining their down-regulation in susceptible

527

species. On the other hand, their up-regulation in Mr could contribute to explaining their

528

refractivity toward WSD (Hossain et al., 2001; Pais et al., 2007; Rajendran et al., 1999; Sahul

529

Hameed et al., 2000; Sarathi et al., 2008).

530 531 532

5. CONCLUSION: In order to improve our knowledge on WSSV infection with particular emphasis on

533

the molecular mechanisms of susceptibility/refractivity of some species, we compared

534

transcriptomes of Litopenaeus vannamei and Macrobrachium rosenbergii after inoculation

17

535

with WSSV. Our results indicated an activation of the immune system in Mr which up-

536

regulated many components of the coagulation cascade and several AMPs, while an

537

opposite pattern (i.e. down-regulation) was observed in Lv. In addition, we found several

538

DEGs, exclusively in Lv, that were related to moult and suggested an inhibition of the moult

539

cycle in this species following WSSV infection, suggesting that the virus was deviating host’s

540

energy allocation away from normal physiological processes (i.e. moult) to support its

541

replication.

542

We further identified nine candidate genes which play an important role in the

543

immune response and are consistently down-regulated in the susceptible species and up-

544

regulated in the refractive Mr. We conclude that these genes may be actively regulated by

545

WSSV while infecting susceptible species and, thus, may help overcome the immune

546

defences and allow the progress of the infection. Together these results offer a valuable

547

resource towards our understanding of the genetic basis of WSSV resistance.

548 549 550

Acknowledgements:

551 552

Funding: This work was supported by the Newton Fund Global Research Partnership in

553

Aquaculture for the project ‘Poverty alleviation through prevention and future control of

554

the two major socioeconomically-important diseases in Asian aquaculture’, by the

555

Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology India under Sanction

556

Order BT/IN/Indo-UK/BBSRC-Aqua/38/MSS/2015-16, and from the UK BBSRC, UK ESRC and

557

UK Aid under contract BB/N005058/1.

558 559

The authors acknowledge the use of the IRIDIS High Performance Computing Facility, and

560

associated support services at the University of Southampton, in the completion of this

561

work.

562 563

† This work is dedicated to the memory of our colleague and friend, Dr Valerie Smith, who

564

dedicated her career to comparative immunology and, in particular, creating an improved

565

mechanistic understanding of the crustacean immune system.

566

18

567 568

Author contributions:

569 570

ST and SV carried infection experiments, RNA isolation and library preparation. LP

571

performed the bioinformatic data analysis, the ecological genomics analysis and their

572

interpretation with inputs from CH, VJS, and ASSH. LP drafted the manuscript with inputs

573

from all other authors. CH, LP, VJS, ASSH, KVK, KKV and MSS conceptualised the project. All

574

authors reviewed and agreed the final version of the manuscript.

575 576

Competing interests:

577

The author(s) declare no competing interests.

578 579

Data availability:

580

Raw sequence data associated with this project have been deposited at NCBI with

581

BioProject accession number PRJNA554075 and SRA accession numbers from SRR9670544

582

to SRR9670555.

583

19

584

FIGURES:

A

B KEGG distribution - M. rosenbergii

Infectious diseases: Parasitic Infectious diseases: Viral Infectious diseases: Bacterial Endocrine and metabolic diseases Cardiovascular diseases Substance dependence Neurodegenerative diseases Immune diseases Cancers: Specific types Cancers: Overview Environmental adaptation Aging Development Sensory system Nervous system Excretory system Digestive system Circulatory system Endocrine system Immune system Cell motility Cellular community - prokaryotes Cellular community - eukaryotes Cell growth and death Transport and catabolism Signaling molecules and interaction Signal transduction Membrane transport Replication and repair Folding, sorting and degradation Translation Transcription Xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism Biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites Metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides Metabolism of cofactors and vitamins Glycan biosynthesis and metabolism Metabolism of other amino acids Amino acid metabolism Nucleotide metabolism Lipid metabolism Energy metabolism Carbohydrate metabolism

KEGG distibution - L. vannamei Infectious diseases: Parasitic Infectious diseases: Viral Infectious diseases: Bacterial Endocrine and metabolic diseases Cardiovascular diseases Substance dependence Neurodegenerative diseases Immune diseases Cancers: Specific types Cancers: Overview Environmental adaptation Aging Development Sensory system Nervous system Excretory system Digestive system Circulatory system Endocrine system Immune system Cell motility Cellular community - prokaryotes Cellular community - eukaryotes Cell growth and death Transport and catabolism Signaling molecules and interaction Signal transduction Membrane transport Replication and repair Folding, sorting and degradation Translation Transcription Xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism Biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites Metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides Metabolism of cofactors and vitamins Glycan biosynthesis and metabolism Metabolism of other amino acids Amino acid metabolism Nucleotide metabolism Lipid metabolism Energy metabolism Carbohydrate metabolism

Infectious diseases: Parasitic Infectious diseases: Viral Infectious diseases: Bacterial Endocrine and metabolic diseases Cardiovascular diseases Substance dependence Neurodegenerative diseases Immune diseases Cancers: Specific types Cancers: Overview Environmental adaptation Aging Development Sensory system Nervous system Excretory system Digestive system Circulatory system Endocrine system Immune system Cell motility Cellular community - prokaryotes Cellular community - eukaryotes Cell growth and death Transport and catabolism Signaling molecules and interaction Signal transduction Membrane transport Replication and repair Folding, sorting and degradation Translation Transcription Xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism Biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites Metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides Metabolism of cofactors and vitamins Glycan biosynthesis and metabolism Metabolism of other amino acids Amino acid metabolism Nucleotide metabolism Lipid metabolism Energy metabolism Carbohydrate metabolism

0

5

10

15

Comparison

0

% of Genes

5

10

% of Genes

15

Human Disease sOrganismal Systems Cellular Process es Environmental Information Processing Genetic Information Processing Metabol ism

+0.6% +0.4% +0.2%

M. rosenbergii

0

+0.2% +0.4% +0.6%

L. vannamei

585 586

Figure 1: A) Transcriptome comparison in WSSV infected Mr (left panel) and Lv (middle panel). This figure shows the composition (in terms of

587

% of genes, X-axis) in relation to the function (in terms of KEGG categories, Y-axis) of protein coding genes (≥ 50 residues) in the transcriptomes

588

of the two species. B) Comparison of each KEGG category from A obtained by subtracting for each category the % of genes of Mr from Lv to

589

appreciate the subtle differences between the two transcriptomes.

590

20

A Species # DE Contigs # Up-regulated # Down-regulated M. rosenbergii 199 189 10 L. vannamei 3106 1043 2063

B Human Diseases Organismal Systems Cellular Processes Environmental Information Processing Genetic Information Processing Metabolism

L. vannamei - Downreg

(15) (1) (11)

(95) (68) (40) (54) (7) (57)

(43) (58) (39) (31) (2) (232)

0

591

L. vannamei - Upreg

(10)

Human Diseases Organismal Systems Cellular Processes Environmental Information Processing Genetic Information Processing Metabolism Human Diseases Organismal Systems Cellular Processes Environmental Information Processing Genetic Information Processing Metabolism

M. rosenbergii - Upreg

(39) (25)

50

100

150

200

250

# of DEGs

21

592

Figure 2: A) Summary table reporting the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) found in WSSV infected Mr and Lv, in comparison to

593

control animals. B) DEGs distribution across KEGG categories in the two species.

22

A

M. rosenbergii - Upreg Fisher test DEGs

positive regulation of gluconeogenesis

Reference

positive regulation of immune system process defense response to other organism phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (GTP) activity glucose catabolic process to lactate via pyruvate cytochrome-c oxidase activity malate oxidase activity mitochondrial respiratory chain complex IV mitochondrial electron transport, cytochrome c to oxygen immune response detection of other organism hematopoietic stem cell differentiation 0.001

0.01

0.1

1

10

log10(% of Sequences)

B

L. vannamei - Upreg Fisher test DEGs

phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity

Reference

negative regulation of NF-kappaB transcription factor activity positive regulation of toll-like receptor 3 signaling pathway positive regulation of protein monoubiquitination positive regulation of I-kappaB kinase/NF-kappaB signaling positive regulation of protein K63-linked ubiquitination positive regulation of protein K48-linked ubiquitination L-lactate dehydrogenase activity positive regulation of Wnt protein secretion fructose metabolic process positive regulation of Wnt signaling pathway glycolytic process regulation of tumor necrosis factor-mediated signaling pathway gluconeogenesis microtubule binding 0.001

0.01

0.1

1

10

log10(% of Sequences)

C

L. vannamei - Downreg Fisher test DEGs

interleukin-8 secretion carnitine biosynthetic process actin cytoskeleton glutathione binding microtubule organizing center microtubule interleukin-12-mediated signaling pathway acetylcholinesterase activity complement activation, lectin pathway actin cytoskeleton organization positive regulation of cytokine secretion microtubule-based process fatty acid beta-oxidation glutathione derivative biosynthetic process carbohydrate metabolic process cell surface pattern recognition receptor signaling pathway hemolymph coagulation heme binding ecdysone receptor-mediated signaling pathway ecdysone binding glutathione transferase activity glutathione peroxidase activity glutathione metabolic process 0.001

594

Reference

0.01

0.1

1

10

log10(% of Sequences)

23

595

Figure 3: Enrichment analysis on DEGs in comparison to the remaining transcriptome

596

(Reference): A) DEGs up-regulated in Mr; B) DEGs up-regulated in Lv; C) DEGs down-

597

regulated in Lv.

598

24

A

B

WSSV Contigs:

DEGs - Expression L. vannamei

(152)

DEGs

150 100 (69)

50 0

(39)

(0)

400 300 200 100 0

L. vannamei M. rosenbergii

Ctrl Group

WSSV Group

DEGs - Function L. vannamei

C Collagen-like protein

(4)

DNA polymerase

(1)

Envelope/Structural proteins

(7)

Immediate-early protein

(1)

RNA-binding motifs

(2)

Unknown function

(24)

0

599

500

In transcriptome

Expression level

Number of contigs

200

10 20 # of contigs

30

25

600 601 602 603 604 605

Figure 4: Viral contigs. A) Number of viral contigs found in each transcriptome and number of DEGs viral contigs in each transcriptome. B) Boxand-whiskers plot showing the expression levels of DE viral genes in Lv injected with PBS (i.e. “Control animals”) and WSSV-injected animals (i.e. “WSSV Group”). Each “X” represents the average (across three biological samples) expression level of one gene. C) Function of DE viral genes according to NCBI’s nr database.

26

A

B ID

NCBI Accession

Lv_1.5hpi

Contig frequency across datasets

Tissue

Experimental design

PRJNA524934 L. vannamei

Gill

1.5hpi Infected vs Control

5093

300

Lv_18hpi

PRJNA524934 L. vannamei

Gill

18 hpi Infected vs Control

5096

250

Lv_56hpi

PRJNA524934 L. vannamei

Gill

56 hpi Infected vs Control

5092

Mn_mor

PRJNA437347 M. nipponense Hepatopancreas Moribund vs Control

167

Mn_surv

PRJNA437347 M. nipponense Hepatopancreas Survived vs Control

13

Mr_inf1

PRJNA252894 M. rosenbergii Hepatopancreas Infected vs Control

215

Pm_inf

PRJNA267515 P. monodon

Hepatopancreas Infected vs Control

819

Lv_hep

PRJNA428228 L. vannamei

Hepatopancreas Ill vs Healty

Lv_mus

PRJNA428228 L. vannamei

Muscle

Mr_inf2

This study

M. rosenbergii Hepatopancreas Infected vs Control

199

Lv_inf2

This study

L. vannamei

Hepatopancreas Infected vs Control

3106

Ill vs Healty

# DE Contigs

22 8

# Observed contigs

Species

(283)

200 150 100 20 15 10 5 0

(78)

(17)

(4) (1)

1 2 3 4 5 Frequency of occurrency in all datasets

606 607

Figure 5: Ecological genomics analysis. A) Summary table of all dataset included in the comparative analysis together with the relevant features

608

of the downloaded datasets. From each dataset DEGs were obtained and retained for further analysis. “L. vannamei gill” (bold, raw 1-3 from

609

the table) was used as a Reference Set against which, DEGs from other datasets, were blasted. B) Frequency of blast-hits across all datasets.

610

This figure shows the number of times each contig from the Reference Set was found in the other datasets.

611

27

Up

Up

Up

Down

Down

Down

Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2

Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2

612 Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2

Acetylcholinesterase

———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp.

Phenoloxidase 2 Up

Up

Up ———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp.

Down

Down

Down

Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2

Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2

Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2

Down

Down

Down

Up

Up

Up

Sulfotransferase

Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2

Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2

Lv _1 .5 hp Lv _1 i 8h p Lv _5 i 6h pi M n_ m o Pm r _i nf Lv _m u Lv s _i nf 2 M r_ in f1 M r_ in f2 ———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp. ———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp.

Sialin ———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp.

Trehalose transporter 1

———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp.

C-type lectin #1 Formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase

———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp.

———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp.

Sorbitol dehydrogenase ———————— Susceptible sp. ——————————— —— Refractive sp.

C-type lectin #2

28

613

Figure 6: Schematic of all genes that were observed in 3 datasets or more. For each gene, the columns represent each dataset (to simplify the

614

visualisation “Mn_surv” and “Lv_hep” were removed as they had no positive match with any of the selected genes) the bars indicate the

615

direction of change (i.e. up-regulation or down-regulation) of that gene in the original dataset (measured as: CPMinfected – CPMcontrol). Lack of

616

the bar indicates absence of the gene from the particular dataset. All genes passed the validation criterion: be concordant with the direction of

617

GE change in reference set and 3 or more other databases (i.e. be downregulated in reference and >3 other datasets), allowing opposite

618

direction in GE change in datasets with refractive species.

619 620 621

29

622 30

623 624

Figure 7: Confirmatory qPCRs of DE genes from the comparative genomics analysis. Normalised Relative Quantities of selected genes were

625

compared using ß-Actin as housekeeping gene in susceptible species (i.e. Lv, left part of each graph) and refractory species (i.e. Mr, right part

626

of each graph) in WSSV-injected (i.e. “WSSV”, black columns) and control (i.e. “Ctrl”, grey columns) animals. Data are shown as mean + SD of

627

n = 3 independent biological replicates. Note that genes Sulfotransferase and Trehalose transporter 1 were not investigated by qPCR in Mr as

628

they were not classified as DE in the refractory species’ database. **: p-val < 0.01; ***: p-val < 0.001; ****: p-val < 0.0001

629 630 631

31

632 32

633 634

Figure 8: Confirmatory qPCRs of DE genes from the transcriptomics analysis. Normalised Relative Quantities of selected genes mapping to

635

haemolymph clotting processes and immune functions from L. vannamei were compared in WSSV-injected (i.e. “WSSV”, black columns) and

636

control (i.e. “Ctrl”, grey columns) animals using ß-Actin as housekeeping gene. Data are shown as mean + SD of n = 3 independent biological

637

replicates. **: p-val < 0.01; ***: p-val < 0.001

638 639

33

640

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39

Highlights: 1. 2. 3. 4.

M. rosenbergii has higher expression of immune genes than L. vannamei. Such genes include anti-microbial peptides and haemolymph clotting components. Moult cycle may be inhibited by WSSV during infection in L. vannamei. Comparative analysis revealed 9 candidate genes putatively linked with WSD tolerance.