A full UL13 open reading frame in Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is dispensable for tumor formation and feather follicle tropism and cannot restore horizontal virus transmission of rRB-1B in vivo

peer reviewedMarek’s disease virus (MDV) is an oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that is highly contagious in poultry. Recombinant RB-1B (rRB-1B) reconstituted from an infectious genome cloned as a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) is unable to spread horizontally, quite in contrast to parental RB-1B. This finding suggests the presence of one or several mutations in cloned relative to parental viral DNA. Sequence analyses of the pRB-1B bacmid identified a one-nucleotide insertion in the UL13 orthologous gene that causes a frame-shift mutation and thereby results in a theoretical truncated UL13 protein (176 aa vs. 513 aa in parental RB-1B). UL13 genes are conserved among alphaherpesviruses and encode protein kinases. Using two-step “en passant” mutagenesis, we restored the UL13 ORF in pRB-1B. After transfection of UL13-positive pRB-1B DNA (pRB-1B*UL13), the resulting, repaired virus did not exhibit a difference in cell-to cell spread (measured by plaque sizes) and in UL13 transcripts in culture to parental rRB-1B virus. Although 89% of the chickens inoculated with rRB-1B*UL13 virus developed tumors in visceral organs, none of the contact birds did. MDV antigens were clearly expressed in the feather tips of rRB-1B infected chickens, suggesting that the UL13 gene mutation did not alter virus tropism of the feather follicle. The results indicate that the correction in UL13 gene alone is not sufficient to restore in vivo spreading capabilities of the rRB-1B virus, and that other region(s) of pRB-1B might be involved in the loss-of-function phenotype. This finding also shows for the first time that a full UL13 ORF is dispensable for MDV tumor formation and feather follicle tropism

Fluorescent tagging of VP22 in N-terminus reveals that VP22 favors Marek’s disease virus (MDV) virulence in chickens and allows morphogenesis study in MD tumor cells

Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is an alpha-herpesvirus causing Marek’s disease in chickens, mostly associated with T-cell lymphoma. VP22 is a tegument protein abundantly expressed in cells during the lytic cycle, which is essential for MDV spread in culture. Our aim was to generate a pathogenic MDV expressing a green fluorescent protein (EGFP) fused to the N-terminus of VP22 to better decipher the role of VP22 in vivo and monitor MDV morphogenesis in tumors cells. In culture, rRB-1B EGFP22 led to 1.6-fold smaller plaques than the parental virus. In chickens, the rRB-1B EGFP22 virus was impaired in its ability to induce lymphoma and to spread in contact birds. The MDV genome copy number in blood and feathers during the time course of infection indicated that rRB-1B EGFP22 reached its two major target cells, but had a growth defect in these two tissues. Therefore, the integrity of VP22 is critical for an efficient replication in vivo, for tumor formation and horizontal transmission. An examination of EGFP fluorescence in rRB-1B EGFP22-induced tumors showed that about 0.1% of the cells were in lytic phase. EGFP-positive tumor cells were selected by cytometry and analyzed for MDV morphogenesis by transmission electron microscopy. Only few particles were present per cell, and all types of virions (except mature enveloped virions) were detected unequivocally inside tumor lymphoid cells. These results indicate that MDV morphogenesis in tumor cells is more similar to the morphorgenesis in fibroblastic cells in culture, albeit poorly efficient, than in feather follicle epithelial cell

Identification of the neutralizing epitopes of Merkel cell polyomavirus major capsid protein within the BC and EF surface loops.

Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is the first polyomavirus clearly associated with a human cancer, i.e. the Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). Polyomaviruses are small naked DNA viruses that induce a robust polyclonal antibody response against the major capsid protein (VP1). However, the polyomavirus VP1 capsid protein epitopes have not been identified to date. The aim of this study was to identify the neutralizing epitopes of the MCPyV capsid. For this goal, four VP1 mutants were generated by insertional mutagenesis in the BC, DE, EF and HI loops between amino acids 88-89, 150-151, 189-190, and 296-297, respectively. The reactivity of these mutants and wild-type VLPs was then investigated with anti-VP1 monoclonal antibodies and anti-MCPyV positive human sera. The findings together suggest that immunodominant conformational neutralizing epitopes are present at the surface of the MCPyV VLPs and are clustered within BC and EF loops

MCPyV VP1 insertional mutants BC, DE, EF and HI.

<p><b>A)</b> MCPyV surface exposed loops model generated using the MKT21 sequence with the VP1 structure information of MCPyV w162 strain (4FMG pdb file) by Swiss-Model. The StreptagII motif (WSHPQFEK) coding sequence was inserted into each predicted surface exposed loop, after S88 of BC, after H150 of DE, after T189 of EF and after T296 of HI to generate four insertional mutants, BC, DE, EF and HI, respectively. <b>B)</b> MCPyV VP1 mutant particles observed by transmission electron microscopy after recombinant baculovirus expression and CsCl gradient purification.</p

ELISA reactivity of MCPyV monoclonal antibodies against MCPyV insertional mutants BC, DE, EF and HI.

<p>In order to characterize the epitopes of the MCPyV VP1, the reactivity of mAbs was analyzed using the MCPyV wt VP1 VLPs and the four mutants with insertion within the BC, DE, EF and HI VP1 loops. ELISAs were performed using hybridoma culture supernatants diluted 1:3. The results are presented as relative binding defined as the reactivity of mAb to mutant VLPs divided by the reactivity of the same mAb observed with wild-type VLPs. The data presented are the means of three determinations (+/- SEM).</p

Characteristics of 14 anti-MCPyV mAbs produced with VP1 from MCC350 and MKT21 strains.

<p>BL, buried linear, C, conformational.</p

Monoclonal antibodies neutralization mechanism after pre (black) or post (white) MCPyV pseudovirions attachment.

<p>For the detection of neutralizing antibodies, COS-7 cells (10⁴/well) and MCPyV luciferase pseudovirions (0.2 RLU) were used. For the pre attachment determination, pseudovirions were mixed with monoclonal antibodies supernatants diluted 1:3 during 1 h and then added to the cells for 3 h at 37°C. The mixture was removed and 100 μl of DMEM-FCS were added. For investigation of post-attachment neutralization, pseudovirions were bound to cells for 1 h at 4°C. Unbound virions were removed and then antibodies diluted 1:3 were added during 1h. The antibodies were removed and 100 μl of DMEM-FCS were added. After incubation for 48 h at 37°C the luciferase activity was measure. The results were expressed as the percentage of inhibition of luciferase activity. The data presented are the means of three determinations performed in duplicate (+/- SEM).</p

ELISA reactivity of 10 neutralizing anti-MCPyV positive human sera (MCC patients) against MCPyV insertional mutants BC, DE, EF and HI.

<p>In order to characterize the epitopes of the MCPyV VP1, the reactivity of the human sera was analyzed from ten patients using the MCPyV wt VP1 VLPs and the four mutants with insertion within the BC, DE, EF and HI VP1 loops. ELISAs were performed using neutralizing anti-MCPyV positive human sera diluted 1:1000. The results are presented as relative binding defined as the reactivity of human serum to mutant VLPs divided by the reactivity of the same human serum observed with wild-type VLPs. The data presented are the means of three determinations (+/- SEM).</p