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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #380166
Research Project: Genetic and Biological Determinants of Avian Herpesviruses Pathogenicity, Transmission, and Evolution to Inform the Development of Effective Control Strategies

Location: Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research

Title: The requirement of glycoprotein C (gC) for interindividual spread is a conserved function of gC for avian herpesviruses

Author
item VEGA-RODRIGUEZ, WIDALIZ - University Of Illinois
item XU, HUAI - University Of Illinois
item PONNURAJ, NAGENDRAPRABHU - University Of Illinois
item AKBAR, HAJI - University Of Illinois
item Kim, Taejoong
item JAROSINSKI, KEITH - University Of Illinois

Submitted to: Scientific Reports
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/25/2021
Publication Date: 4/8/2021
Citation: Vega-Rodriguez, W., Xu, H., Ponnuraj, N., Akbar, H., Kim, T.N., Jarosinski, K.W. 2021. The requirement of glycoprotein C (gC) for interindividual spread is a conserved function of gC for avian herpesviruses. Scientific Reports. 11:7753. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87400-x.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87400-x

Interpretive Summary: Marek’s disease (MD) is an economically important disease affecting the poultry industry. Current MD vaccines can reduce the clinical symptoms but do not efficiently block the virus infection. Glycoprotein C (gC) of Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is required for the virus transmission from chicken to chicken, and we hypothesized other alphaherpesvirus gC proteins are also required for the virus transmission in birds. Using recombinant 301B/1 virus where we can track the virus replication in the host and transmission from chicken to chicken, gC of 301B/1 virus was successfully deleted. Confirming our hypothesis, the gC-deleted 301B/1 virus failed to transmit. However, when 301B/1 gC was restored in the virus, 301B/1 successfully spread from chicken to chicken. The results indicate that gC of 301B/1 is required in virus transmission between chickens. In addition, the replacement of 301B/1 gC with MDV gC could also transmit showing the conserved function of gC in natural infection can be compensated efficiently by replacing with the MDV gC. These data strongly suggest that the essential function of alphaherpesvirus gC proteins during transmission is conserved, and this knowledge can be exploited during the generation of future vaccines against MD that affects the poultry industry worldwide.

Technical Abstract: We have formerly shown that glycoprotein C (gC) of Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2, better known as Marek’s disease (MD) alphaherpesvirus (MDV), is required for interindividual spread in chickens. Since gC is conserved within the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily, we hypothesized gC was important for interindividual spread of other alphaherpesviruses. To test this hypothesis, we first generated a fluorescent protein tagged clone of Gallid alphaherpesvirus 3 MD vaccine strain 301B/1 to track virus replication in cell culture and chickens using fluorescent microscopy. Following validation of this system, we removed the open reading frame of 301B/1 gC from the genome and determined whether it was required for interindividual spread using experimental and natural infection studies. Interindividual spread of MD vaccine 301B/1 was abrogated by removal of 301B/1 gC. Rescuent virus in which 301B/1 gC was inserted back into the genome efficiently spread among chickens. To further study the conserved function of gC, we replaced 301B/1 gC with MDV gC and this virus also efficiently spread in chickens. These data suggest the essential function of alphaherpesvirus gC proteins is conserved and can be exploited during the generation of future vaccines against MD that affects the poultry industry worldwide.