ARS | Publication request: Genome-wide Copy Number Variation and Temporal Genes Expression Analysis in Marek's Disease-Resistant or -Susceptible Inbred Lines of Chickens

Submitted to: International Conference on Animal Genetics
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 30, 2010
Publication Date: July 26, 2010
Citation: Yu, Y., Mitra, A., Luo, J., Tian, F., Zhang, H., Yuan, P., Chang, S., Liu, G., Xie, X., Song, J. 2010. Genome-wide copy number variation and temporal genes expression analysis in Marek's disease-resistant or -susceptible inbred lines of chickens [abstract]. In: 32nd Conference of the International Society for Animal Genetics Program and Abstract Book, July 26-30, 2010, Edinburgh, Scotland. Paper No. 2019.

Technical Abstract: Viruses that cause cancers are a great threat to human and animal health. Marek’s disease (MD) in chickens is a lymphoproliferative disease caused by Marek’s disease virus (MDV). The over-expression of Hodgkin’s disease antigen in MD makes it an ideal model to study the progression mechanism of Hodgkin’s disease in vivo. Three inbred chicken lines (L63, L72 and LM) with different susceptibility to MD were examined by array-based comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and expressional microarray analysis using samples taken at different time points (5dpi, 10dpi and 21dpi) post MDV infection. A total of 43 CNVs were identified in the three chicken lines with total sizes ranging from 1.4 Mb in L72 to 1.6 Mb in LM. While only 22% of the sequence found within CNV regions are unique for L63 (MD-resistant) and LM (intermediate in MD-resistance), 62% are unique for L72 (MD-susceptible). Several anti-viral pathways, and particularly the NF-kappa B pathway, were found activated in the early cytolytic stage (5dpi) in L63 chickens. The array-CGH and gene expression microarray results revealed a CNV loss located on chromosome 4 present in both L63 and LM chickens but absent in L72 chickens that is associated with the expression of a CD8a homologue before and after MDV infection. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a CNV loss that may be related to MD-resistance in chickens.