The Harderian gland is a sparsely characterized immune tissue known to play an important role in local immunity.The function of the Harderian gland, however, is not clearly defined.Measuring the expression of all genes using RNA-seq enables the identification of genes, pathways, or networks of interest.
Our relative RNA-seq expression analysis Puzzles compared the chicken Harderian gland transcriptome to other important primary and secondary immune tissues including the bursa of Fabricius, thymus, and spleen of non-challenged birds.A total of 2,386 transcripts were identified as highly expressed in the Harderian gland.Gene set enrichment showed the importance of G-protein coupled receptor signaling and several immune pathways.
Among the genes highly expressed in the Harderian gland were 48 miRNAs, a category of genetic elements involved in regulation of gene expression.Several identified miRNAs have immune related functions.This analysis gives insight to the unique immune AEG IDK84451IB - 83cm Induction Hob with Integrated Hood - Black - 942 150 636 processes inherent in the Harderian gland.