Calves Infected with Virulent and Attenuated Mycoplasma bovis Strains Have Upregulated Th17 Inflammatory and Th1 Protective Responses, Respectively

Mycoplasma bovis is a critical bovine pathogen, but its pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Here, the virulent HB0801 (P1) and attenuated HB0801-P150 (P150) strains of M. bovis were used to explore the potential pathogenesis and effect of induced immunity from calves’ differential transcriptomes post infection. Nine one-month-old male calves were infected with P1, P150, or mock-infected with medium and euthanized at 60 days post-infection. Calves in P1 group exhibited other clinical signs and pathological changes compared to the other two groups. Transcriptome profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed seven and 10 hub differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in P1 and P150 groups compared with mock-infected group, respectively. Then, P1-induced pathogenesis was predicted to be associated with enhanced Th17, and P150-induced immunity with Th1 response and expression of ubiquitination-associated enzymes. Association analysis showed that 14 and 11 DEGs were positively and negatively correlated with pathological changes, respectively. Furthermore, up-regulated expression in molecules critical to differentiation of pathogenic Th17 cells in lung and peripheral blood mononuclear cells in P1 group was validated at RNA and protein levels. The results confirmed virulent and attenuated strains might be associated with biased differentiation of pro-inflammatory pathogenic Th17 and Th1 subsets respectively.