A novel protein-coding ORF72.2 gene was identified from Marek's disease virus strain CVI988

Mingxing Tian,Yong Huang,Sanjie Cao,Nianli Zou,Ping Liu,Yan Lin,Xintian Wen,Min Shi,Yang Zhao

doi:10.1186/1743-422x-7-371

Mingxing Tian, Yong Huang + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422x-7-371

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Journal: Virology journal	Publication Date: Dec 1, 2010
Citations: 12	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Sichuan Agricultural University

Abstract

Marek's disease is a highly contagious disease of poultry characterized by rapid-on set of T-cell lymphomas, which is caused by Marek's disease virus (MDV), but its pathogenic mechanism is still not very clear. Recently, some new progress were achieved in molecular character of MDV. Along with the genomic sequencing of MDV serotype 1, some novel open reading frames (ORFs) were predicted, and ORF72.2 was one of them which have no homologues in other MDV serotypes or in other alphaherpesvirus. In the study, ORF72.2 was firstly identified as a protein-coding gene by the method of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blotting and indirect immunofluorescence assay. This study paved the way to conduct further studies to determine whether ORF72.2 plays a role in MDV replication and pathogenicity.

Highlights

Marek’s disease is a highly contagious disease of poultry characterized by rapid-on set of T-cell lymphomas, which is caused by Marek’s disease virus (MDV), but its pathogenic mechanism is still not very clear
The causative agent of the disease is Gallid herpesvirus 2, which is called Marek’s disease virus (MDV) serotype 1. This virus is an alphaherpesvirus of the genus Mardivirus [2], which includes the antigen-related Meleagrid herpesvirus 1 (HVT), a strain used widely as a vaccine against MD since the late 1960s [3,4], as well as Gallid herpesvirus 3 (MDV-2), which includes apathogenic strains some of which are used as live vaccines against MD [5]
Among the open reading frames (ORFs), the putative functions of some ORFs were predicted based on the comparison with homologous genes of other alphaherpesvirus whose functions had already been well known [7,8], some ORFs are found to have no homologues in other alphaherpesvirus

Summary

Introduction

Marek’s disease is a highly contagious disease of poultry characterized by rapid-on set of T-cell lymphomas, which is caused by Marek’s disease virus (MDV), but its pathogenic mechanism is still not very clear. The complete genomic sequence of the MDV-1 vaccine strain CVI988 was determined in 2007 which consisting of 178311 bp with an overall gene organization identical to that of the oncogenic strains such as GA, RB1B, Md5, Md11, 584A. The ORF72.2 protein was firstly indentified, expressed and localized in cell by western blotting and immunofluorescence assay, which laid the foundation for the study of pathogenic mechanism of MDV.

Results

Conclusion