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The genome evolution of Marek’s disease viruses in chickens and turkeys in China

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Abstract

The virus that causes Marek’s disease (MD) is globally ubiquitous in chickens, continuously evolving, and poses a significant threat to the poultry industry. Although vaccines are extensively used, MD still occurs frequently and the virus has evolved increased virulence in China. Here, we report an outbreak of MD in vaccinated chickens and unvaccinated turkeys in a backyard farm in Guangdong province, China, in 2018. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two lineages of MDVs at this farm, with one lineage, containing isolates from two turkeys and five chickens, clustering with virulent Chinese strains and displays a relatively high genetic divergence from the vaccine strains. These new isolates appear to have broken through vaccine immunity, yielding this outbreak of MD in chickens and turkeys. The second lineage included four chicken isolates that clustered with the CVI988 and 814 vaccine strains. The large diversity of MDVs in this single outbreak reveals a complex circulation of MDVs in China. Poor breeding conditions and the weak application of disease prevention and control measures make backyard farms a hotbed for the evolution of viruses that cause infectious diseases. This is especially important in MDV as the MD vaccines do not provide sterilizing immunity, which allows the replication and shedding of virulent field viruses by vaccinated individuals and supporting the continuous evolution of MDVs. Hence, constant monitoring of the evolution of MDVs is necessary to understand the evolution of these field viruses and potential expansions of their host range.

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Data availability

The sequences generated in the current study were deposited to the GenBank under the accession numbers OP887017-OP887027.

Abbreviations

MD:

Marek’s disease

MDV:

Marek’s disease virus

HVT:

Turkey herpesvirus

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2020B0301030007), Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture Project (NT2021007), the Guangdong Provincial Key R&D Program, (2022B1111040001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31822056), the Guangdong Science and Technology Innovation Leading Talent Program (2019TX05N098), the 111 Project (D20008), the Double first-class discipline promotion project (2023B10564003) and the Department of Education of Guangdong Province (2019KZDXM004 and 2019KCXTD001).

Funding

This study was funded by Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research, 2020B0301030007.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, People’s Republic of China

    Wen Li, Huifang Meng, Xianghui Liang, Jinyu Peng, Xuejuan Shen & Yongyi Shen

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A8, Canada

    David M. Irwin

  3. Banting and Best Diabetes Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A8, Canada

    David M. Irwin

  4. Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Prevention and Control of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, 510642, People’s Republic of China

    Yongyi Shen

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  1. Wen Li
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  2. Huifang Meng
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  3. Xianghui Liang
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Contributions

YS conceptualized, designed and and wrote the manuscript. WL, HM, JP and XS performed the experiments. XL analyzed the data. DMI participated in revising the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yongyi Shen.

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Li, W., Meng, H., Liang, X. et al. The genome evolution of Marek’s disease viruses in chickens and turkeys in China. Virus Genes 59, 845–851 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-023-02034-7

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