Cytochromes P450 (CYP) are enzymes responsible for the biotransformation of most endogenous and exogenous agents. The expression of each CYP is influenced by a unique combination of mechanisms and factors including genetic polymorphisms, induction by xenobiotics, and regulation by cytokines and hormones. In recent years, Ciona robusta, one of the closest living relatives of vertebrates, has become a model in various fields of biology, in particular for studying inflammatory response. Using an in vivo LPS exposure strategy, next-generation sequencing (NGS) and qRT-PCR combined with bioinformatics and in silico analyses, compared whole pharynx transcripts from naïve and LPS-exposed C. robusta, and we provide the first view of cytochrome genes expression and miRNA regulation in the inflammatory response induced by LPS in a hematopoietic organ. In C. robusta, cytochromes belonging to 2B,2C, 2J, 2U, 4B and 4F subfamilies were deregulated and miRNA network interactions suggest that different conserved and species-specific miRNAs are involved in post-transcriptional regulation of cytochrome genes and that there could be an interplay between specific miRNAs regulating both inflammation and cytochrome molecules in the inflammatory response in C. robusta.
Keywords: Ciona robusta; LPS; NGS; cytochrome P450; miRNA.