Marek's disease (MD), caused by MD herpesvirus (MDV), is an economically important disease in chickens. The efficacy of the existing vaccines against evolving virulent stains may become limited and necessitates the development of novel antiviral strategies to protect poultry from MDV strains with increased virulence. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has emerged as a powerful genome editing tool providing an opportunity to develop antiviral strategies for the control of MDV infection. Here, we characterized Tol2 transposon constructs encoding Cas9 and guide RNAs (gRNAs) specific to the immediate early infected-cell polypeptide-4 (ICP4) of MDV. We generated transgenic chickens that constitutively express Cas9 and ICP4-gRNAs (gICP4) and challenged them via intraabdominal injection of MDV-1 Woodlands strain passage-19 (p19). Transgenic chickens expressing both gRNA/Cas9 had a significantly reduced replication of MDV in comparison to either transgenic Cas9-only or the wild-type (WT) chickens. We further confirmed that the designed gRNAs exhibited sequence-specific virus interference in transgenic chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) expressing Cas9/gICP4 when infected with MDV but not with herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT). These results suggest that CRISPR/Cas9 can be used as an antiviral approach to control MDV infection in chickens, allowing HVT to be used as a vector for recombinant vaccines.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7828426PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010164DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

transgenic chickens
12
marek's disease
8
chickens expressing
8
antiviral strategies
8
control mdv
8
mdv infection
8
mdv
7
chickens
6
transgenic
5
vivo inhibition
4

Similar Publications

Cell type-specific reporter transgenic chicken lines are invaluable tools in developmental biology, allowing the visualization of dynamics and differentiation states of target cell types in living embryos. Here, we report the establishment of a new transgenic chicken line in which limb mesenchyme and apical ectodermal ridge (AER) cells are labeled with different fluorescent proteins in the embryos. The processes for generating the reporter line involved using tissue-specific promoters, the Tol2 transposon-mediated genomic integration, and clonal culture system of primordial germ cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Signaling pathways of duck RIG-I in gene-edited DF1 chicken cells.

Poult Sci

December 2024

Graduate School of International Agricultural Technology and Institute of Green-Bio Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do 25354, South Korea; Institute of Green-Bio Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do 25354, South Korea. Electronic address:

Retinoic acid inducible gene I (RIG-I) is an innate immune RNA sensor which can detect viral infection such as influenza viruses. Duck but not chicken has an RIG-I gene. However, the immune responses could be induced in chicken cells by transferring the duck RIG-I transgene.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Generation of transgenic chicken through ovarian injection.

Animal Model Exp Med

December 2024

Frontiers Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding (MOE), State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.

Background: Traditional DNA microinjection methods used in mammals are difficult to apply to avian species due to their unique reproductive characteristics. Genetic manipulation in chickens, particularly involving immature follicles within living ovaries, has not been extensively explored. This study seeks to establish an efficient method for generating transgenic chickens through ovarian injection, potentially bypassing the challenges associated with primordial germ cell (PGC) manipulation and fertilized egg microinjection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Heavy chain-only antibodies have found many applications where conventional heavy-light heterodimeric antibodies are not favorable. Heavy chain-only antibodies with their single antigen-binding domain offer the advantage of a smaller size and higher stability relative to conventional antibodies, and thus, the potential for novel targeting modalities. Domain antibodies have commonly been sourced from camelids with humanization or transgenic rodents expressing heavy chains without light chains, but these host species are all mammalian, limiting their capacity to elicit robust immune responses to conserved mammalian targets.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The bursa of Fabricius (BF) is a crucial organ in birds for B-cell development, arising from the cloaca during embryonic growth.
  • - Researchers found that specific precursors for B cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells migrate to the BF, with a new cell type, EIV-E12+, playing a key role in initiating the formation of lymphoid follicles.
  • - Experiments with chick-duck and chick-quail combinations indicate that EIV-E12+ cells act as transient inducers for lymphoid follicle formation, but they aren't direct precursors of B or dendritic cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!