A BAC clone of MDV strain GX0101 with REV-LTR integration retained its pathogenicity

Methods for the Manipulation of Herpesvirus Genome and the Application to Marek's Disease Virus Research

Herpesviruses are a group of double-strand DNA viruses that infect a wide range of hosts, including humans and animals. In the past decades, numerous methods have been developed to manipulate herpesviruses genomes, from the introduction of random mutations to specific genome editing. The development of genome manipulation methods has largely advanced the study of viral genes function, contributing not only to the understanding of herpesvirus biology and pathogenesis, but also the generation of novel vaccines and therapies to control and treat diseases. In this review, we summarize the major methods of herpesvirus genome manipulation with emphasis in their application to Marek’s disease virus research.

Increased Horizontal Transmission of Recombinant Marek's Disease Virus Due to Reticuloendotheliosis Virus Long Terminal Repeat Is the Major Competitive Advantage of the Virus Being a Prevalent Strain

GX0101 is the first field Marek's disease virus (MDV) recombinant with an REV LTR insert isolated in China. We speculated that there was a selective advantage of GX0101 becoming the more prevalent field strain from a very low percentage of recombinant virus. In the study, dual fluorescence quantitative real-time PCR (DF-qPCR) that detects GX0101 and GX0101ΔLTR simultaneously was established based on the genomic difference of GX0101 and its LTR deletion strain GX0101ΔLTR. MDV natural transmission was simulated in specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicks, and continuous tracking of GX0101 and GX0101ΔLTR in chicks was carried out. The results showed that GX0101 possessed high horizontal transmission capacity, which could infect SPF chicks by contact in a short time and became the predominant strain following contact infections in chicken flocks. GX0101 still had a more significant advantage of horizontal transmission than GX0101ΔLTR after continuous passage even if the initially infectious dose was significantly lower. There were 72 differentially expressed MDV genes between GX0101 and GX0101ΔLTR, with the genes and gene products mainly involved in virus replication, tegument protein, glycoprotein, nucleocapsid protein, immune evasion, tumor development and/or pathogenesis, and hypothetical protein. Sixteen genes related to virus replication and transmission were significantly up-regulated. This is the first study to illuminate that increased horizontal transmission of recombinant MDV due to REV LTR was the competitive advantage of the virus being a prevalent strain and define the differential transcription profile of viral genes between GX0101 and GX0101ΔLTR. This will be helpful for in-depth study on the molecular mechanism of increased horizontal transmission of MDV by REV LTR.

Avian Reticuloendotheliosis in Chickens - An Update on Disease Occurrence and Clinical Course

Avian reticuloendotheliosis (RE) represents an important immunosuppressive disease of poultry. The occurrence of RE in both chickens and turkeys has an immunosuppressive effect and may lead to vaccination failures. Avian reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) is widely distributed in different kinds of birds, causing subclinical infections. Another important issue adhering to this disease is contamination of vaccines against fowl pox (FP) and Marek’s disease (MD) with REV. The capability of REV to integrate into the genome of other larger DNA viruses complicates its diagnosis and prevention. There are no efficient vaccines against RE nor treatment, which also complicates how to limit its impact on poultry farming. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge of this important immunosuppressive agent of poultry emphasising the importance of this problem in terms of diagnosis of RE.

Putative roles as oncogene or tumour suppressor of the Mid-clustered microRNAs in Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaHV2) induced Marek's disease lymphomagenesis

In the last decade, numerous microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified in diverse virus families, particularly in herpesviruses. Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaHV2) is a representative oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that induces rapid-onset T-cell lymphomas in its natural hosts, namely Marek’s disease (MD). In the GaHV2 genome there are 26 mature miRNAs derived from 14 precursors assembled into three clusters, namely the Meq-cluster, Mid-cluster and LAT-cluster. Several GaHV2 miRNAs, especially those in the Meq-cluster (e.g. miR-M4-5p), have been demonstrated to be critical in MD pathogenesis and/or tumorigenesis. Interestingly the downstream Mid-cluster is regulated and transcribed by the same promoter as the Meq-cluster in the latent phase of the infection, but the role of these Mid-clustered miRNAs in GaHV2 biology remains unclear. We have generated the deletion mutants of the Mid-cluster and of its associated individual miRNAs in GX0101 virus, a very virulent GaHV2 strain, and demonstrated that the Mid-clustered miRNAs are not essential for virus replication. Using GaHV2-infected chickens as an animal model, we found that, compared with parental GX0101 virus, the individual deletion of miR-M31 decreased the mortality and gross tumour incidence of infected chickens while the deletion individually of miR-M1 or miR-M11 unexpectedly increased viral pathogenicity or oncogenicity, similarly to the deletion of the entire Mid-cluster region. More importantly, our data further confirm that miR-M11-5p, the miR-M11-derived mature miRNA, targets the viral oncogene meq and suppresses its expression in GaHV2 infection. We report here that members of the Mid-clustered miRNAs, miR-M31-3p and miR-M11-5p, potentially act either as oncogene or tumour suppressor in MD lymphomagenesis.

Influence of avian leukosis virus long terminal repeat on biological activities of Marek's disease virus

GX0101 was the first reported field strain of recombinant Marek's disease virus (MDV) that contained a long terminal repeat (LTR) from the reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV). It is a very virulent MDV strain, with relatively high horizontal transmission ability. The REV LTR in GX0101 genome was proved to decrease the pathogenicity but increase the potential for horizontal transmission of the virus. Here we constructed a recombinant MDV GX0101-ALV-LTR to study stability of avian leukosis virus (ALV) LTR at the REV LTR insertion site in GX0101 genome and its influence on biological activities of the recombinant virus. The results showed that GX0101-ALV-LTR was able to replicate stably both in vitro and in vivo. ALV LTR remained stable in chickens infected either by inoculation with the recombinant virus GX0101-ALV-LTR or by horizontal transmission, as well as in cell culture. The pathogenic properties of GX0101-ALV-LTR virus were evaluated in infected specific-pathogen-free chickens. The present study demonstrated that the GX0101-ALV-LTR virus had a weaker inhibitory effect on the growth rates of the infected chickens and induced weaker immunosuppressive effects. Horizontal transmission ability of the GX0101-ALV-LTR virus appeared to be similar with its parental virus GX0101. In short, ALV LTR was stable in GX0101 after replacing REV LTR, and the recombinant virus showed similar horizontal transmission ability but decreased pathogenicity.

Protective efficacy of a recombinant bacterial artificial chromosome clone of a very virulent Marek's disease virus containing a reticuloendotheliosis virus long terminal repeat

Marek's disease virus (MDV), an alphaherpesvirus, causes Marek's disease (MD), a lymphoproliferative disease in poultry characterized by T-cell lymphomas, nerve lesions, and mortality. Vaccination is used worldwide to control MD, but increasingly virulent field strains can overcome this protection, driving a need to create new vaccines. Previous studies revealed that insertion of reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) long terminal repeat (LTR) into a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone of a very virulent strain of MDV, Md5, rendered the resultant recombinant virus, rMd5 REV-LTR BAC, fully attenuated in maternal antibody positive (Mab+) chickens at passage 40. In the current study, the protective efficacy of rMd5 REV-LTR BAC was evaluated. First, passage 70 was identified as being fully attenuated in maternal antibody negative chickens and chosen as the optimal passage level for use in protective efficacy studies. Second, three protective efficacy trials were conducted comparing the rMd5 REV-LTR p70 BAC to the CVI988/Rispens vaccine. Groups of Mab+ and Mab- 15I₅ × 7₁ chickens were vaccinated in ovo at 18 days of embryonation or intra-abdominally at day of hatch, and challenged at 5 days post-hatch with the vv+MDV strain 686. Vaccination at day of hatch and in ovo with rMd5 REV-LTR p70 BAC protected chickens against MDV-induced bursa and thymic atrophy, but did not provide the same level of protection against MD tumours as that afforded by the commercial vaccine, CVI988/Rispens.

The significance of the individual Meq-clustered miRNAs of Marek's disease virus in oncogenesis

Marek's disease virus (MDV) is an important oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that induces rapid-onset T-cell lymphomas in its natural hosts. The Meq-clustered miRNAs encoded by MDV have been suggested to play potentially critical roles in the induction of lymphomas. Using the technique of bacterial artificial chromosome mutagenesis, we have presently constructed a series of specific miRNA-deleted mutants and demonstrate that these miRNAs are not essential for replication of MDV and have no effects on the early cytolytic or latent phases of the developing disease. However, compared to the parental GX0101, mortality of birds infected with the mutants GXΔmiR-M2, GXΔmiR-M3, GXΔmiR-M5, GXΔmiR-M9 and GXΔmiR-M12 was reduced from 100 % to 18 %, 30 %, 48 %, 24 % and 14 %, coupled with gross tumour incidence reduction from 28 % to 8 %, 4 %, 12 %, 8 % and 0 %, respectively. Our data confirm that except for mdv1-miR-M4, the other Meq-clustered miRNAs also play critical roles in MDV oncogenesis. Further work will be needed to elucidate the miRNA-mediated regulatory mechanisms that trigger the development of MD lymphomas.

Transcriptional activity comparison of different sites in recombinant Marek's disease virus for the expression of the H9N2 avian influenza virus hemagglutinin gene

Over the last two decades, much attention has been paid to MDV-vectored recombinant vaccines. Many factors have influenced their protective efficacy, and insertion site has been among the main influential factors for the expression of foreign genes in recombinant Marek's disease virus (rMDV). To compare the transcriptional activity of different sites of rMDV, an H9N2 avian influenza virus hemagglutinin gene (AIV-H9N2-HA) expression cassette that used the bi-directional promoter of serotype 1 MDV (MDV1) in the 1.8kb RNA transcript direction (p1.8kb) as a promoter was inserted into 4 different regions of MDV using the bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) vector and FLP/FRT recombination technique. The insertion regions included 3 of its own sites (US2, US10 and one of Meq genes) in the MDV genome and a foreign site (gpt gene) in the BAC vector. Quantitative PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to analyze and compare the H9N2-HA expression levels of these different rMDVs both at the mRNA level and at the protein level. The results indicated that among the four tested insertion regions, the HA expression cassette in the US2 region demonstrated the highest activity, followed by that in the Meq region, which was almost equal to that of US10. Further, the expression cassette had the lowest activity in the foreign region gpt gene. The above data could be useful for choosing proper recombinant insertion regions in the construction of rMDV to express different foreign genes, and it is a prerequisite for developing effective MDV-vectored recombinant vaccines.

Sequence analysis of the whole genome of a recombinant Marek's disease virus strain, GX0101, with a reticuloendotheliosis virus LTR insert

Marek's disease virus Chinese strain GX0101, isolated in 2001, is the first reported recombinant gallid herpesvirus type 2 (GaHV-2) field strain with one reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) long terminal repeat (LTR) insert. We constructed an infectious bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone of GX0101, which showed characteristics very similar to those of the parental virus in replication and pathogenicity. Using the GX0101 BAC clone, the complete genome of GX0101 was sequenced and analyzed. The length of the GX0101 genome is 178,101 bp, and it contains only one REV-LTR insert at a site 267 bp upstream of the sorf2 gene.

Insertion of reticuloendotheliosis virus long terminal repeat into a bacterial artificial chromosome clone of a very virulent Marek's disease virus alters its pathogenicity

Co-cultivation of the JM/102W strain of Marek's disease virus (MDV) with reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) resulted in the generation of a recombinant MDV containing the REV long terminal repeat (LTR) named the RM1 strain of MDV, a strain that was highly attenuated for oncogenicity but induced severe bursal and thymic atrophy. We hypothesize that the phenotypic changes were solely due to the LTR insertion. Furthermore, we hypothesize that insertion of REV LTR into an analogous location in a different MDV would result in a similar phenotypic change. To test these hypotheses, we inserted the REV LTR into a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone of a very virulent strain of MDV, Md5, and designated the virus rMd5-RM1-LTR. The rMd5-RM1-LTR virus and the rMd5 virus were passaged in duck embryo fibroblast cells for up to 40 passages before pathogenicity studies. Susceptible chickens were inoculated intra-abdominally at hatch with the viruses rMd5-RM1-LTR, rMd5 BAC parental virus, wild-type strain Md5, or strain RM1 of MDV. The rMd5-RM1-LTR virus was attenuated at cell culture passage 40, whereas the rMd5 BAC without RM1 LTR retained its pathogenicity at cell culture passage 40. Using polymerase chain analysis, the RM1 LTR insert was detected in MDV isolated from buffy coat cells collected from chickens inoculated with rMd5-RM1-LTR, but only at 1 week post inoculation. The data suggest that the presence of the RM1 LTR insert within MDV genome for 1 week post inoculation with virus at hatch is sufficient to cause a reduction in pathogenicity of strain Md5 of MDV.

Molecular characteristics of Polish field strains of Marek's disease herpesvirus isolated from vaccinated chickens

BACKGROUND

Twenty-nine Marek's disease virus (MDV) strains were isolated during a 3 year period (2007-2010) from vaccinated and infected chicken flocks in Poland. These strains had caused severe clinical symptoms and lesions. In spite of proper vaccination with mono- or bivalent vaccines against Marek's disease (MD), the chickens developed symptoms of MD with paralysis.Because of this we decided to investigate possible changes and mutations in the field strains that could potentially increase their virulence. We supposed that such mutations may have been caused by recombination with retroviruses of poultry - especially reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV).

METHODS

In order to detect the possible reasons of recent changes in virulence of MDV strains, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses for meq oncogene and for long-terminal repeat (LTR) region of REV were conducted. The obtained PCR products were sequenced and compared with other MDV and REV strains isolated worldwide and accessible in the GeneBank database.

RESULTS

Sequencing of the meq oncogene showed a 68 basepair insertion and frame shift within 12 of 24 field strains. Interestingly, the analyses also showed 0.78, 0.8, 0.82, 1.6 kb and other random LTR-REV insertions into the MDV genome in 28 of 29 of strains. These genetic inserts were present after passage in chicken embryo kidney cells suggesting LTR integration into a non-functional region of the MDV genome.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate the presence of a recombination between MDV and REV under field conditions in Polish chicken farms. The genetic changes within the MDV genome may influence the virus replication and its features in vivo. However, there is no evidence that meq alteration and REV insertions are related to the strains' virulence.

Expression profiles of microRNAs encoded by the oncogenic Marek's disease virus reveal two distinct expression patterns in vivo during different phases of disease

Marek's disease virus (MDV) is a long-recognized oncogenic herpesvirus, which induces lymphoma in its natural host that can be prevented by vaccination. MDV infection provides an excellent biological model for investigating the biology, genetics and immunology of viral oncogenesis. Recently discovered microRNAs (miRNAs) in the MDV genome have been suggested to have regulatory roles during MDV oncogenesis. We have examined the expression profiles of all 22 previously reported miRNAs encoded by MDV-1 in chickens artificially challenged with MDV-GX0101. We found that a subset of the miRNAs was differentially expressed during different phases of the developing disease. These miRNAs show early or late expression during disease progression, accompanied by obvious tissue-specific and differential expression patterns. This temporal and differential tissue distribution suggest that these miRNAs may perform different regulatory roles in switching from latency to lytic replication, immunosuppression, neoplastic transformation or other aspects of lymphoma formation. These reported in vivo expression profiles indicate the potentially functional MDV-1-encoded miRNAs that should be selected for further investigation of their functions in MDV oncogenesis.

Deletion of 1.8-kb mRNA of Marek's disease virus decreases its replication ability but not oncogenicity

Background

The 1.8-kb mRNA was reported as one of the oncogenesis-related genes of Marek's disease virus (MDV). In this study, the bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone of a MDV field strain GX0101 was used as the platform to generate mutant MDV to examine the functional roles of 1.8-kb mRNA.

Results

Based on the BAC clone of GX0101, the 1.8-kb mRNA deletion mutant GX0101Δ(A+C) was constructed. The present experiments indicated that GX0101Δ(A+C) retained a low level of oncogenicity, and it showed a decreased replication capacity in vitro and in vivo when compared with its parent virus, GX0101. Further studies in vitro demonstrated that deletion of 1.8-kb mRNA significantly decreased the transcriptional activity of the bi-directional promoter between 1.8-kb mRNA and pp38 genes of MDV.

Conclusion

These results suggested that the 1.8-kb mRNA did not directly influence the oncogenesis but related to the replication ability of MDV.

Functional evaluation of the role of reticuloendotheliosis virus long terminal repeat (LTR) integrated into the genome of a field strain of Marek's disease virus

MDV-GX0101 is a field strain of Marek's disease virus with a naturally occurring insertion of the reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) LTR fragment. In order to study the biological properties of REV-LTR insertion in the MDV genome, we constructed a full-length infectious BAC clone of MDV-GX0101 strain and deleted the LTR sequences by BAC mutagenesis. The pathogenic properties of the LTR-deleted virus were evaluated in infected SPF birds. The study demonstrated that the LTR-deleted virus had a stronger inhibitory effect on the growth rates of the infected birds and induced stronger immunosuppressive effects. Surprisingly, however, the ability for horizontal transmission of the LTR-deleted virus appeared to be significantly weaker than its parental LTR-intact virus. Even though the precise molecular mechanisms are still not clear, the results of our studies demonstrate that the retention of the REV-LTR in the MDV genome decreases its pathogenic effects but increases its potential for horizontal transmission.