Amphibian (Xenopus laevis) Tadpole and Adult Macrophage Antiviral Responses
Open AccessAcross the globe, amphibians are experiencing population declines and extinction in part due to FV3 and other ranavirus infections. Amphibian tadpoles are believed to be more susceptible to these pathogens as they more readily succumb to ranavirus infections. However, the immunological mechanisms conferring amphibian immune susceptibility and resistance to ranaviruses remain to be adequately defined. It is known that macrophage (Mϕ) lineage cells are important to both amphibian antiviral defenses as well as to the ranavirus infection strategies. In turn, Mϕ biology is interdependent of the activation of the colony stimulating factor-1 receptor by CSF-1 and the unrelated intrelukeukin-34 (IL-34) cytokines. Accordingly, we compared the anti-FV3 responses of CSF-1- and IL-34-Mϕs derived from tadpole and adult Xenopus laevis frogs. Our findings indicate that the tadpole and adult frog CSF-1- and IL-34-Mϕs markedly differ in their expression of pathogen recognition receptors (tlrs 7&9) and antiviral transcription factors (irfs 3&7). Intuitively, the adult frog Mϕs mount more robust antiviral IFN gene expression responses. Together, our findings suggest that the above differences may account, at least in part, for the disparities in the tadpole and adult frog susceptibility to these viral pathogens.
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