Project Number: 1245-32000-098-05
Project Type: General Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Apr 14, 2010
End Date: Dec 31, 2013

Objective:
The specific objectives of this agreement include Identify differentially expressed (DE) genes in blood in response to PRRSV infection; Determine putative gene sets and pathways that predict a pig's ability to clear PRRSV infection and maintain weight gain; and Validate utility of gene sets and pathways for prediction of responsiveness to PRRSV infections in multiple populations. Predictive blood tests of pigs with improved PRRS disease resistance and growth maintenance; increased understanding of mechanisms involved in pig responses to PRRSV infection; scientific publications.

Approach:
Washington State University (WSU) will contribute to the first and third objectives. The first objective WSU will search public databases and use bioinformatic tools to examine the transcriptome of alveolar macrophages in response to PRRSV infection. This data will serve as a reference to determine what genes are expressed exclusively or predominantly in response to PRRS infection and compared to Michigan State University full transcriptome data. For the third objective, WSU will annotate specific porcine genes manually using comparative annotation procedures for retrieval of both cDNA and genomic DNA sequences of each gene identified in the second objective. WSU will then detect putative splicing forms in each of selected DE pig genes using three approaches – comparative analysis in mammals, EST evidence and PCR screening. The different sizes of products will be sequenced and the tentative splicing forms examined. Primers will be designed to target different splicing form and RT-PCR carried out to examine which form is most abundantly expressed in high or low responders to PRRSV infection.