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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #350013
Research Project: Enhancing Genetic Resistance to Marek’s Disease in Poultry

Location: Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research

Title: Poultry Allele-Specific Expression (ASE) of CD4+ T Cells in Response to Marek’s Disease Virus Infection

Author
item BAI, HAO - University Of Maryland
item HE, YANGHUA - University Of Maryland
item Zhang, Huanmin
item SONG, JIUZHOU - University Of Maryland

Submitted to: Annual International Plant & Animal Genome Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2017
Publication Date: 1/13/2018
Citation: Bai, H., He, Y., Zhang, H., Song, J. 2018. Poultry Allele-Specific Expression (ASE) of CD4+ T Cells in Response to Marek’s Disease Virus Infection. Annual International Plant & Animal Genome Conference. Paper#0521.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Marek’s disease (MD) is a T cell lymphoma disease of poultry induced by Marek’s disease virus (MDV), a highly oncogenic alphaherpesvirus. To identify high-confidence candidate genes of MD genetic resistance, transcriptomic data in CD4+ T cells were obtained from MDV infected and non-infected groups of two reciprocal crosses individuals mating by two highly inbred chicken lines (63 MD-resistant and 72 MDsusceptible). We identified 61 and 123 SNPs (FDR < 0.05) annotated in 39 and 132 genes in intercross 63×72 and 72×63, respectively, which exhibited allele-specific expression (ASE) in response to MDV infection. Similarly, we identified 62 and 79 SNPs annotated in 66 and 96 genes in infected and non-infected groups, respectively. Furthermore, we identified 534 and 1,543 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (FDR < 0.05) related to MDV infection in intercrosses 63×72 and 72×63, respectively. We also identified 328 and 20 DEGs in infected and noninfected groups, respectively. After validation in CD4+ T cells and tumors, we found six genes (MCL1, SLC43A2, PDE3B, ADAM33, BLB1 and DMB2), especially MCL1 gene, were highlighted as the most potential candidate genes involved in MDV infection. Many ASE genes were linked to T cell activation, T cell receptor (TCR), B cell receptor (BCR), ERK/MAPK and PI3K/AKT-mTOR signaling pathways, which played potentially important roles in MDV infection. Overall, our study also provides additional deep insights into the mechanisms of MD and disease resistance breeding in poultry.