通过对来自考古鸡的马立克氏病病毒（MDV）基因组进行测序，研究人员证明它至少已经流行了1000年。研究人员对Meq癌基因进行了功能测试，它是现代毒株中49个正选病毒基因之一，并证明古代MDV很可能无法驱动肿瘤的形成。这些研究结果证明了古DNA方法在追踪经济相关病原体毒力的分子基础方面的威力。
自20世纪50年代以来，牲畜数量的显著增长改变了相关病原体的流行和演化轨迹。例如，导致鸡淋巴肿瘤的MDV的毒性在上个世纪显著增强。如今，MDV感染导致90%以上未接种疫苗的禽类死亡，每年的控制成本超过10亿美元。
附：英文原文
Title: Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek’s disease virus
Author: Steven R. Fiddaman, Evangelos A. Dimopoulos, Ophélie Lebrasseur, Louis du Plessis, Bram Vrancken, Sophy Charlton, Ashleigh F. Haruda, Kristina Tabbada, Patrik G. Flammer, Stefan Dascalu, Nemanja Markovi, Hannah Li, Gabrielle Franklin, Robert Symmons, Henriette Baron, László Daróczi-Szabó, Dilyara N. Shaymuratova, Igor V. Askeyev, Olivier Putelat, Maria Sana, Hossein Davoudi, Homa Fathi, Amir Saed Mucheshi, Ali Akbar Vahdati, Liangren Zhang, Alison Foster, Naomi Sykes, Gabrielle Cass Baumberg, Jelena Bulatovi, Arthur O. Askeyev, Oleg V. Askeyev, Marjan Mashkour, Oliver G. Pybus, Venugopal Nair, Greger Larson, Adrian L. Smith, Laurent A. F. Frantz
Issue&Volume: 2023-12-15
Abstract: The pronounced growth in livestock populations since the 1950s has altered the epidemiological and evolutionary trajectory of their associated pathogens. For example, Marek’s disease virus (MDV), which causes lymphoid tumors in chickens, has experienced a marked increase in virulence over the past century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds, and controlling it costs more than US$1 billion annually. By sequencing MDV genomes derived from archeological chickens, we demonstrate that it has been circulating for at least 1000 years. We functionally tested the Meq oncogene, one of 49 viral genes positively selected in modern strains, demonstrating that ancient MDV was likely incapable of driving tumor formation. Our results demonstrate the power of ancient DNA approaches to trace the molecular basis of virulence in economically relevant pathogens.
DOI: adg2238
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg2238