Phylogenetic and molecular epidemiological studies reveal evidence of recombination among Marek's disease viruses

Liangliang He; Jie Li; Yun Zhang; Jun Luo; Yongchang Cao; Chunyi Xue

doi:10.1016/j.virol.2018.01.019

Phylogenetic and molecular epidemiological studies reveal evidence of recombination among Marek's disease viruses

Virology. 2018 Mar:516:202-209. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2018.01.019.

Authors

Liangliang He¹, Jie Li², Yun Zhang¹, Jun Luo³, Yongchang Cao¹, Chunyi Xue⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China; School of Biology and Food Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu 215500, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Animal Immunology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Immunology, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China; College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: xuechy@mail.sysu.edu.cn.

PMID: 29407378
DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2018.01.019

Abstract

Marek's disease has brought enormous loss in chicken production worldwide and the increasing virulence of Marek's disease virus (MDV) became a severe problem. To better understand the genetic basis underlying, a Chinese MDV strain HNGS101 isolated from immunized chickens was sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis implied that HNGS101 showed more relatedness to Eurasian strains than GaHV-2 circulating in North America. Recombination networks analysis showed the evidence of recombination among MDV strains, and several recombination events in the UL and US region were found. Further analysis indicated that the HNGS101 strain seemed to be generated by the recombination of the earliest Eurasian strains and North American strains in the US region, which may be responsible for the MD outbreaks in China. In summary, this study demonstrates recombination events among MDV strains [corrected], which may shed light on the mechanism of virulence enhancement.

Keywords: Complete genome; Evolution; MDV; Phylogenetic analysis; Recombination.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Chickens
China / epidemiology
Herpesvirus 2, Gallid / classification*
Herpesvirus 2, Gallid / genetics*
Herpesvirus 2, Gallid / isolation & purification
Marek Disease / epidemiology
Marek Disease / virology*
Molecular Epidemiology
Phylogeny*
Poultry Diseases / epidemiology
Poultry Diseases / virology*
Recombination, Genetic