Figure 4

Necroptosis-associated genes were induced in early-stage brain homogenates during B1.617.2 infection. The brain homogenates obtained at 3 and 4 dpi were analyzed simultaneously to profile 84 necrosis genes by using the RT² profiler PCR assay. The heat maps present the upregulated genes in the brain homogenates (left panel), and a scatter plot reveals the upregulated (red), downregulated (blue), and unchanged (black) genes (A). The plot presents the log tenfold changes in gene expression in the two groups. The quantification of the cell death-related genes Bcl2 (pro-apoptotic), Ripk3 (necroptosis), Casp3 (apoptotic), and Becn1 (autophagic) in the brain homogenates at the indicated time points after infection (B). Based on the GeneGlobe database (https://dataanalysis2.qiagen.com/pcr), the heat map for the RT²-profiler PCR array was generated using GraphPad Prism 7.0 (https://www.graphpad.com/).