Publikationsdatenbank

Characterization of a novel viral Interleukin 8 (vIL-8) splice variant encoded by Marek’s disease virus (2021)

Art

Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag

Autoren

You, Yu (WE 5)

Hagag, Ibrahim T. (WE 5)

Kheimar, Ahmed (WE 5)

Bertzbach, Luca D. (WE 5)

Kaufer, Benedikt B. (WE 5)

Quelle

Microorganisms : open access journal

Bandzählung: 9

Heftzählung: 7

Seiten: Artikel 1475

ISSN: 2076-2607

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/7/1475

DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9071475

Pubmed: 34361910

Kontakt

Institut für Virologie

Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 51833
virologie@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Marek's disease virus (MDV) is a highly cell-associated oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that causes lymphomas in various organs in chickens. Like other herpesviruses, MDV has a large and complex double-stranded DNA genome. A number of viral transcripts are generated by alternative splicing, a process that drastically extends the coding capacity of the MDV genome. One of the spliced genes encoded by MDV is the viral interleukin 8 (vIL-8), a CXC chemokine that facilitates the recruitment of MDV target cells and thereby plays an important role in MDV pathogenesis and tumorigenesis. We recently identified a novel vIL-8 exon (vIL-8-E3') by RNA-seq; however, it remained elusive whether the protein containing the vIL-8-E3' is expressed and what role it may play in MDV replication and/or pathogenesis. To address these questions, we first generated recombinant MDV harboring a tag that allows identification of the spliced vIL-8-E3' protein, revealing that it is indeed expressed. We subsequently generated knockout viruses and could demonstrate that the vIL-8-E3' protein is dispensable for MDV replication as well as secretion of the functional vIL-8 chemokine. Finally, infection of chickens with this vIL-8-E3' knockout virus revealed that the protein is not important for MDV replication and pathogenesis in vivo. Taken together, our study provides novel insights into the splice forms of the CXC chemokine of this highly oncogenic alphaherpesvirus.