Digital Gene Expression Analysis of Microsporum canis Exposed to Berberine Chloride

Berberine, a natural isoquinoline alkaloid of many medicinal herbs, has an active function against a variety of microbial infections including Microsporum canis (M. canis). However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. To study the effect of berberine chloride on M. canis infection, a Digital Gene Expression (DGE) tag profiling was constructed and a transcriptome analysis of the M. canis cellular responses upon berberine treatment was performed. Illimina/Hisseq sequencing technique was used to generate the data of gene expression profile, and the following enrichment analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and Pathway function were conducted based on the data of transcriptome. The results of DGE showed that there were 8476945, 14256722, 7708575, 5669955, 6565513 and 9303468 tags respectively, which was obtained from M. canis incubated with berberine or control DMSO. 8,783 genes were totally mapped, and 1,890 genes have shown significant changes between the two groups. 1,030 genes were up-regulated and 860 genes were down-regulated (P<0.05) in berberine treated group compared to the control group. Besides, twenty-three GO terms were identified by Gene Ontology functional enrichment analysis, such as calcium-transporting ATPase activity, 2-oxoglutarate metabolic process, valine catabolic process, peroxisome and unfolded protein binding. Pathway significant enrichment analysis indicated 6 signaling pathways that are significant, including steroid biosynthesis, steroid hormone biosynthesis, Parkinson’s disease, 2,4-Dichlorobenzoate degradation, and tropane, piperidine and Isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis. Among these, eleven selected genes were further verified by qRT-PCR. Our findings provide a comprehensive view on the gene expression profile of M. canis upon berberine treatment, and shed light on its complicated effects on M. canis.