Abstract

The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is one of the most important ecological breeding species with distinct characteristics and is cultured in many locations throughout China. In the present study, the transcriptome of A. davidianus spleen tissue, that had been challenged with Citrobacter freundii, was analyzed using Illumina sequencing technology. The result was compared to that of a healthy control group. After assembly and annotation, 128 540 transcripts were generated with a median length of 349 bp. Comparative expression analysis indicated 1995 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 812 of which were up-regulated and 1183 were down-regulated. Furthermore, these DEGs were classified into three gene ontology categories, 535 of which were annotated to 237 KEGG pathways and 30 of them were immune-related. Five significantly enriched immune-related pathways were complement and coagulation cascades, TNF signaling pathway, NF-kappa B signaling pathway, B cell receptor signaling pathway, and leukocyte transendothelial migration. Finally, six immune-related DEGs involved in the immune-related pathways were randomly selected for scrutinization. This work provides valuable transcriptomic data for an improved understanding the defense mechanisms of A. davidianus against bacterial pathogens at the transcriptional level, as well as facilitating future studies on gene function of A. davidianus.