The Marek's Disease Virus Unique Gene MDV082 Is Dispensable for Virus Replication but Contributes to a Rapid Disease Onset.

ABSTRACT: Marek's disease virus (MDV) is a highly oncogenic alphaherpesvirus of chickens that causes lymphomas in various organs. Most MDV genes are conserved among herpesviruses, while others are unique to MDV and may contribute to pathogenesis and/or tumor formation. High transcript levels of the MDV-specific genes MDV082, RLORF11, and SORF6 were recently detected in lytically infected cells; however, it remained elusive if the respective proteins are expressed and if they play a role in MDV pathogenesis. In this study, we first addressed if these proteins are expressed by inserting FLAG tags at their N or C termini. We could demonstrate that among the three genes tested, MDV082 is the only gene that encodes a protein and is expressed very late in MDV plaques in vitro. To investigate the ro

SUBMITTER: You Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8274606 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature