Coccidiosis, caused by various Eimeria species, is a major parasitic disease in chickens. Our understanding of how chickens respond to coccidian infections is highly limited at both the molecular and cellular levels. In this study, coexpression modules were identified by weighted gene coexpression network analysis in chickens infected with E. tenella. A total of 15 correlation modules were identified using 5,175 genes with 24 chicken samples, 12 with primary and 12 with secondary E. tenella infection. The analysis of the interactions between these modules showed a high degree of scale independence. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes enrichment analyses revealed that the genes in these functional modules were involved in a broad categories of functions, such as immune response, cell cycle, cellular responses to lipids, sterol biosynthetic processes, and RNA transport. Two modules viz yellow and magenta and three genes viz IFNG, IRF1 and CAPZA1 were identified significantly associating with infection status. Preservation analysis showed that most of the modules identified in E. tenella infections were highly or moderately preserved in chickens infected with either E. acervulina or E. maxima. These analyses outline a biological responses landscape for chickens infected by E. tenella. And also indicated that infections with these three Eimeria species elicit similar biological responses in chickens.

中文翻译：

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共表达网络的构建和分析以了解感染艾美球虫的鸡的生物学反应

由各种艾美球虫引起的球虫病是鸡的主要寄生虫病。我们对鸡如何应对球虫感染的理解在分子和细胞水平上都非常有限。在这项研究中，共表达模块是通过加权基因共表达网络分析在感染 E.tenella 的鸡中确定的。使用 24 个鸡样本的 5,175 个基因确定了总共 15 个相关模块，其中 12 个具有初级感染和 12 个次级感染。对这些模块之间相互作用的分析显示出高度的规模独立性。Gene Ontology 和京都基因和基因组学百科全书的富集分析表明，这些功能模块中的基因涉及广泛的功能类别，例如免疫反应、细胞周期、细胞对脂质的反应、甾醇生物合成过程和 RNA 转运。两个模块即黄色和洋红色以及三个基因即 IFNG、IRF1 和 CAPZA1 被确定与感染状态显着相关。保存分析表明，在感染 E. acervulina 或 E. maxima 的鸡中，大多数在 E. tenella 感染中鉴定的模块都高度或中度保存。这些分析勾勒出感染 E. tenella 的鸡的生物反应情况。并且还表明感染这三种艾美球虫会在鸡中引起类似的生物学反应。在感染 E. acervulina 或 E. maxima 的鸡中，tenella 感染高度或中度保留。这些分析勾勒出感染 E. tenella 的鸡的生物反应情况。并且还表明感染这三种艾美球虫会在鸡中引起类似的生物学反应。在感染 E. acervulina 或 E. maxima 的鸡中，tenella 感染高度或中度保留。这些分析勾勒出感染 E. tenella 的鸡的生物反应情况。并且还表明感染这三种艾美球虫会在鸡中引起类似的生物学反应。