Study of early, Cellular responses to IPN virus infection in salmonids

This project will focus the basic mechanisms and characteristics of IPn virus infection in vivo and in vitro. Cell responses to virus infection are usually associated with cytokine upregulation, typically of interferons alfa and beta. The knowledge of the se responses in Atlantic salmon are limited. The strategy of the infected cell is to limit virus replication and spread and for this purpose the cell machinery will be shut down. Apoptosis is one mechanism by which this happen. There is a correlation betw een cytokine responses and apoptosis but the knowledge bas in fish cells is limited. Through this project we will aim at characterizing the cytokine genes and effector molecules (cloning and sequencing). By use of IPN virus isolates with different virulen ce profiles, the approach that include more than assessment of one or two regulatory peptides, and for this reason, a microarray study will be included, based on EST libraries from zebra fish and Atlantic salmon. The anticipation is that the information originating from the project will shed light on mechanisms of importance for disease control.