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MUCOSAL P ROFILES OF RESISTANCE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY TO F LAVOBACTERIUM COLUMNARE USING RNA-SEQ APPROACHES Eric J. Peatman*, Chao Li, Ruijia Wang, Fanyue Sun, Zhanjiang Liu, Bradley Farmer, Benjamin Beck Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures, Auburn University, AL 36849 [email protected] One of the highest priority areas for improvement in aquaculture is the development of effective strategies for decreasing disease mortality levels in production, including implementation of better vaccines and robust genetic selection programs. Flavobacterium columnare (“columnaris”) outbreaks are an annual threat to freshwater aquaculture operations worldwide, often brought on by routine handling or crowding stress, changes in water quality parameters, or primary infections by parasites or other bacterial pathogens. Despite its widespread impact, our understanding of F. columnare infectious processes remains limited. In particular, little is known regarding the processes mediating early pathogen adhesion and replication on host mucosal surfaces and how these may differ between resistant and susceptible fish. Here, we first utilized next-generation sequencing-based RNA-Seq to profile the catfish gill transcriptome following columnaris infection. We next applied RNA-Seq to individuals from columnaris resistant and susceptible families to examine transcriptional differences both prior to infection and at early timepoints following infection. The results revealed a consistent pattern of immune polarization between resistant and susceptible fish prior to challenge, including key differences in expression of MHC family members, a rhamnose-binding lectin, mucins and mucin glycosylation factors, lysozyme-C, and iNOS. We propose that the differing mucosal profiles of the studied fish are a critical component determining their disease phenotype. Furthermore, the position of these gene factors on fish surfaces likely make them highly amenable to modulation through dietary or topical therapeutant approaches.