Duck plague virus (DPV) is one of the main diseases that seriously endanger the production of waterfowl. DPV possesses a large genome consisting of 78 ORFs, but the functions and mechanisms of the most genes have not been elucidated yet. Understanding the function and mechanism of each encoded protein in viral replication and pathogenesis is the key to effectively controlling the outbreaks of duck plague. This study aimed to define the roles of the double copies of the US1 genes during DPV infection in vitro and in vivo. Results found that deletion of both copies of the US1 gene significantly impaired the replication, gene expression and virulence of DPV in vitro and in vivo, and the reduced virulence of DPV after US1 deletion was mainly attributed to the transcriptional regulation of US1 gene on virulence gene. These results provide clues for the further study of the pathogenesis of DPV and provide a potential candidate vaccine strain for the prevention of duck plague.

Figure 1 The US1 gene contributes to the pathogenesis of DPV in vivo.

     The related research content is titled “Deletion of Double Copies of the US1 Gene Reduces the Infectivity of Recombinant Duck Plague Virus In Vitro and In Vivo” and was published online on Microbiology Spectrum (IF=9.043) owned by American Society for Microbiology (ASM). This research was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province, the earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System and Sichuan Veterinary Medicine and Drug Innovation Group of China Agricultural Research System. Sichuan Agricultural University was the only one to complete the project. Ying Wu and Silun Tan were co-first author, and Anchun Cheng was the corresponding author.