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Title: GENE DELETION MUTANTS OF MAREK'S DISEASE VIRUS, THE NEXT GENERATION OF RECOMBINANT VACCINES?

Author
item Lee, Lucy
item Silva, Robert
item Heidari, Mohammad
item REDDY, SANJAY - TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: American Veterinary Medical Association Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/16/2005
Publication Date: 7/16/2005
Citation: Lee, L.F., Silva, R.F., Heidari, M., Reddy, S.M. 2005. Gene deletion mutants of Marek's disease virus: the next generation of recombinant vaccines [abstract]? American Veterinary Medical Association. p. 46.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Marek's disease (MD), a virus-induced cancer-like disease of chickens, is considered as a major disease problem in commercial poultry. Vaccination has dramatically reduced the incidence of the disease, but more virulent viruses are emerging and developing of new control strategies is needed. Recently, the study of MDV gene function was greatly facilitated by developing new methods for the generation of recombinant herpesviruses using overlapping cosmid clone DNAs and cloning the entire MDV genome in bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs). We have used MDV cosmid clones SN5, P89, SN16, A6 and B40, from the very virulent strain, Md5, encompassing the entire MDV genome to generate recombinant Md5 viruses lacking the various MDV unique genes. The deletion of MDV genes was by the RecA-assisted restriction endonuclease (RARE) cleavage method. We have generated several gene deletion mutants of MDV such as rMd5/dpp38, rMd5/dvIL8, rMd5/dMeq, and rMd5/dLORF11. Some of these mutants have great potential for protecting chickens against tumor development. Further modification of these mutants may significantly increase the efficiency of protection and can be the future generation of recombinant vaccine for control MD.