High-fidelity long-read sequencing of an avian herpesvirus reveals extensive intrapopulation diversity in tandem repeat regions.

ABSTRACT: Comparative genomic studies of Marek's disease virus (MDV) have suggested that attenuated and virulent strains share >98% sequence identity. However, these estimates fail to account for variation in regions of the MDV genome harboring tandem repeats. To resolve these loci and enable assessments of intrapopulation diversity, we used a PacBio Sequel II platform to sequence MDV strains CVI988/Rispens (attenuated), HPRS-B14 (virulent), Md5 (very virulent) and 675A (very virulent plus). This approach enabled us to identify patterns of variation in tandem repeat regions that may contribute to the known phenotypic differences between these strains, including the proline-rich regions of the meq oncogene (Meq-PRR) and MDV049/UL36 (UL36-PRR), the multiple telomeric repeats (mTMR) region of the a-lik

SUBMITTER: Ortigas-Vasquez A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12425393 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature