Abstract
The yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) is an important economic freshwater aquaculture species in Asia. However, little is known about its immune response to bacterial pathogen infection. Here, two cytokines, the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-8 (IL-8) and the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10), were identified and characterized in the yellow catfish for the first time. We found that the full length of the IL-8 cDNA was 784 bp and contained an open reading frame (ORF) of 336 bp, while the IL-10 gene was 973 bp in length with a 549 bp of ORF. In addition, both the IL-8 and the IL-10 had similar tissue-specific expression patterns. They were more abundant in the spleen and lowest expressed in the liver. Furthermore, IL-10 but not IL-8 was significantly upregulated in the intestine of yellow catfish by feed supplementation of Clostridium butyricum (CB). More importantly, the expression levels of intestinal IL-10 and IL-8 were up- and downregulated by pathogen Aeromonas punctata stimuli with the presence of CB, respectively. Collectively, these results suggest that IL-10 and IL-8 mediate important roles in the immunity of yellow catfish, and feed supplementation of CB may able to reduce the intestinal inflammation caused by bacteria infections through regulating the expression of IL-10 and IL-8.