Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek's disease virus

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fiddaman, Steven R.; Dimopoulos, Evangelos A.; Lebrasseur, Ophelie; du Plessis, Louis; Vrancken, Bram; Charlton, Sophy; Haruda, Ashleigh F.; Tabbada, Kristina; Flammer, Patrik G.; Dascalu, Stefan; Markovic, Nemanja; Li, Hannah; Franklin, Gabrielle; Symmons, Robert; Baron, Henriette; Daroczi-Szabo, Laszlo; Shaymuratova, Dilyara N.; Askeyev, Igor V.; Putelat, Olivier; Sana, Maria; Davoudi, Hossein; Fathi, Homa; Mucheshi, Amir Saed; Vahdati, Ali Akbar; Zhang, Liangren; Foster, Alison; Sykes, Naomi; Baumberg, Gabrielle Cass; Bulatovic, Jelena; Askeyev, Arthur O.; Askeyev, Oleg V.; Mashkour, Marjan; Pybus, Oliver G.; Nair, Venugopal; Larson, Greger; Smith, Adrian L.; Frantz, Laurent A. F.
• 署名单位: University of Oxford; University of Oxford; University of Cambridge; Universite de Toulouse; Universite Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; ETH Zurich; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics; KU Leuven; Universite Libre de Bruxelles; University of York - UK; University of London; University College London; Autonomous University of Barcelona; University of Tehran; Payame Noor University; Nanjing University; University of Exeter; University of Gothenburg; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN); University of London; University of London Royal Veterinary College; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); Pirbright Institute; University of Munich; University of London; Queen Mary University London
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-12065
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adg2238
• 发表日期: 2023-12-15
• 页码: 1276-1281
• 关键词: meq gene

摘要

The pronounced growth in livestock populations since the 1950s has altered the epidemiological and evolutionary trajectory of their associated pathogens. For example, Marek's disease virus (MDV), which causes lymphoid tumors in chickens, has experienced a marked increase in virulence over the past century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds, and controlling it costs more than US$1 billion annually. By sequencing MDV genomes derived from archeological chickens, we demonstrate that it has been circulating for at least 1000 years. We functionally tested the Meq oncogene, one of 49 viral genes positively selected in modern strains, demonstrating that ancient MDV was likely incapable of driving tumor formation. Our results demonstrate the power of ancient DNA approaches to trace the molecular basis of virulence in economically relevant pathogens.