Development of a Recombinant Pichinde Virus-Vectored Vaccine against Turkey Arthritis Reovirus and Its Immunological Response Characterization in Vaccinated Animals.

Pawan Kumar,Sunil K Mor,Tamer A Sharafeldin,Yuying Liang,Sagar M Goyal,Qinfeng Huang,Rahul Kumar,Hinh Ly,Robert E Porter

doi:10.3390/pathogens10020197

Abstract

Vaccination may be an effective way to reduce turkey arthritis reovirus (TARV)-induced lameness in turkey flocks. However, there are currently no commercial vaccines available against TARV infection. Here, we describe the use of reverse genetics technology to generate a recombinant Pichinde virus (PICV) that expresses the Sigma C and/or Sigma B proteins of TARV as antigens. Nine recombinant PICV-based TARV vaccines were developed carrying the wild-type S1 (Sigma C) and/or S3 (Sigma B) genes from three different TARV strains. In addition, three recombinant PICV-based TARV vaccines were produced carrying codon-optimized S1 and/or S3 genes of a TARV strain. The S1 and S3 genes and antigens were found to be expressed in virus-infected cells via reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) technique, respectively. Turkey poults inoculated with the recombinant PICV-based TARV vaccine expressing the bivalent TARV S1 and S3 antigens developed high anti-TARV antibody titers, indicating the immunogenicity (and safety) of this vaccine. Future in vivo challenge studies using a turkey reovirus infection model will determine the optimum dose and protective efficacy of this recombinant virus-vectored candidate vaccine.

Highlights

Turkey arthritis reoviruses (TARVs) re-emerged in 2011 in Minnesota and other states in the United States (US) [1,2,3]
The viral genome consists of 10 segments of dsRNA grouped into large (L1, L2, L3), medium (M1, M2, M3), and small (S1, S2, S3, S4) segments according to their migration pattern on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [4,5]
Since TARVs are similar to chicken arthritis reovirus (CARV) in terms of their genomic structure, segment sizes, and open reading frames, the σC and σB of TARV should be considered in the development of mono- or multivalent virus vectored vaccines against TARV

Summary

Introduction

Turkey arthritis reoviruses (TARVs) re-emerged in 2011 in Minnesota and other states in the United States (US) [1,2,3]. The σC protein is a minor outer capsid protein of 326 amino acids, which has been identified as cell attachment protein responsible for virus entry into the host cell [6]. The σB protein of 367 amino acids is a major component of the viral outer capsid that contains a group-specific neutralizing epitope [11]. Subunit vaccines for chicken arthritis reovirus (CARV) are available that contain either a partial fragment of σC protein [12] or a full-length σC protein alone [13] or in combination with σB protein [14]. Since TARVs are similar to CARVs in terms of their genomic structure, segment sizes, and open reading frames, the σC and σB of TARV should be considered in the development of mono- or multivalent virus vectored vaccines against TARV

Objectives

Methods

Results