| Description |
Animal models are to study virus infection. Both tree shrews and mice can be infected with HSV-1, and then establish acute and latent infections, yet the two models differ in the severity and pathogenesis following initial infections. To better understand how HSV-1 infection, we performed a time series transcriptional profiling of infected trigeminal ganglion from mouse, tree shrew and human. In human samples, we collected 4 trigeminal ganglia for RNA sequencing and used 16 RNA-Seq data from PRJNA384203. During acute stage, all viral genes were detected in mouse tissues, but few in tree shrews. Among these, 22 viral genes were almost absent in the tree shrew model. However, during latency, higher levels of LAT were detected in tree shrew tissues, and ICP0 transcript fragment was also detected. Interestingly, high levels of LAT and ICP0 transcripts were also present in infected human trigeminal ganglia. Importantly, we found spontaneously reactivated samples in the latently infected tree shrew trigeminal ganglia. By analyzing viral transcripts, we identified the differences between the two animal models and demonstrated the similarity of LAT characteristics between humans and tree shrews. Overall design: animals were infected with HSV-1 strain 17+ by corneal scratching, and infected trigeminal ganglia were collected at 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 28 and 58 days of post inoculation. Animals were also mock-infected (Vero cell supernatant) and samples collected at 58 days. 4 human tissues were obtained from accidentally dead people and were allowed by their families. All samples were subjected to RNA-Seq analysis with mRNA as target molecule. |
