Journal Article

Peripheral transcriptional responses to experimental SARS-CoV-2 inoculation in North American elk cows and calves

Cassmann, Eric D., Palmer, Mitchell V., Buckley, Alexandra C., Boggiatto, Paola M., Davila, Kaitlyn M. Sarlo, Petry, Bruna, Olsen, Steven. C., Putz, Ellie J.

2025

Overview

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains a health risk for humans and other domestic and wildlife species. Recently, North American elk have been identified as seropositive for SARS-CoV-2, thus posing a potential threat to humans and other mammals. In this work, we characterized the peripheral transcriptomic response to experimental SARS-CoV-2 infection in calves and adult elk at different time points. Results Significantly differentially expressed genes were identified at 2-, 5-, and 14-days post inoculation (pi) for both age groups. Adult elk presented the greatest number of differentially expressed (DE) genes at all time points, including many genes associated with viral response, immune activation, antibody production, as well as genes associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and coronavirus GO terms and KEGG pathways. Calves presented DE genes associated with viral responses at 5 days pi as well as neurodegenerative-associated genes at 14 days pi. Both adults and calves showed predicted activation of the ISGF3 and IFN type I pathways at day 2 pi and, globally, increased activity related to the coronavirus pathway disease at 5 and 14 days pi. Conclusions Collectively, this work provides valuable data characterizing the cervid immune response of elk to viral diseases as well as the response of wildlife to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adults / Animal genetics / Animal Genetics and Genomics / Animals / Anopheles / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Calves / Cattle / Cervus elaphus / Coronavirus / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - genetics / COVID-19 - immunology / COVID-19 - veterinary / COVID-19 - virology / Deer / Deer - genetics / Deer - virology / Disease transmission / Elk / Enzymes / Gene Expression Profiling / Genes / Genetic aspects / Genetic research / Genetic transcription / Health aspects / Health risks / Immune response / Immune system / Infections / Inoculation / Interferon / Kinases / Life Sciences / Microarrays / Microbial Genetics and Genomics / Physiological aspects / Plant Genetics and Genomics / Proteins / Proteomics / Public health / Respiratory diseases / Ribonucleic acid / RNA / RNA-seq / SARS-CoV-2 / Severe acute respiratory syndrome / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Social aspects / Transcriptome / Transcriptomics / Tumor necrosis factor-TNF / Viral diseases / Viruses / Wildlife / Zoonotic