Goat Neutrophils Express Innate and Adaptive Response Genes that can be Modulated by Exposure to Mushroom (Coriolus versicolor) Extracts

Neutrophils are the first line of defense and central to many disease processes in animals. A study was conducted to determine the expression on 84 genes involved in innate and adaptive responses. The modulation by extracts of the mushroom Coriolus versicolor was also determined. Blood was collected from adult female SpanishXBoer (N=10) goats, before and after supplementation with mushroom extract for 30 days. Neutrophils was isolated from whole blood. Total RNA was isolated from neutrophils using Trizol, RNA integrity number (RIN) was determined and samples were pooled by treatment group (N=5) and used for cDNA synthesis. The RT 2profiler array was used to determine the expression of 84 genes involved in innate and adaptive immunity. Fold change in transcript abundance was calculated using the Livak method with GAPDH as the reference gene for normalization. On day 0, 54 genes were expressed from both treatment groups. On day 30, mushroom extracts had an effect on the expression of 68 genes of which 45 were upregulated, 23 genes were down regulated and 16 genes were unchanged. The control group expressed 8 genes which were upregulated and 76 were undetected. Treatment with mushroom extracts resulted in increase differential expression of genes related Toll-like Receptor (TLR) signaling pathway. Mushroom extracts may have probiotic effects in goats by modulating neutrophil gene expression. This will also help advance understanding of the genetics of gene expression and neutrophil biology in goats.