Single-cell transcriptome profiling reveals diverse immune cell populations and their responses to viral infection in the spleen of zebrafish

Teleost fish are indispensable model organisms for comparative immunology research that should provide fundamental insights into the evolutionary history of vertebrate immunity and eventually lead to an improved understanding of the general principles of immune system design. Although numerous studies on fish immunology have been conducted, knowledge about the cell types that orchestrate piscine immune systems remains limited. In this study, we generated a comprehensive atlas of immune cell types in a zebrafish model on the basis of single-cell transcriptome profiling. Spleen leukocyte (PBS-administered (control), SVCV-infected (infected) and SVCV-vaccinated plus SVCV-infected (vaccinated+infected) groups) of the AB zebrafish were isolated byFicoll-Hypaque (1.080 g/mL) density-gradient centrifugation and analyzed using scRNAseq.