Exosomal circRNA Transcriptome Analysis of Porcine Intestinal Epithelial Cells Under E. coli F18 Infection

Abstract

Simple Summary Diarrhea triggered by enterotoxigenic E. coli F18 after weaning inflicts considerable economic damage on the pig industry. As extracellular vesicles, exosomes participate in cell-to-cell signaling and show promise as biomarkers for various autoimmune conditions. However, no prior work has examined the biological activities or potential clinical significance of circRNAs in IPEC-J2 cells infected with E. coli F18. Our results indicated the exo-circCHUK/miR-339-3p/FUT2 as a probable candidate axis of how susceptible IPEC-J2 cells are to E. coli F18 infection. To our knowledge, this is the first report to define the role and molecular basis of exosomal circRNAs in governing E. coli F18 susceptibility, laying groundwork for delineating the pathogenic mechanisms of E. coli F18 and for uncovering novel antibacterial targets.