Research/MDV vaccines
From Poultry Hub
Title: Marek's disease virus (MDV) vaccines
Project Leader: Tim Mahony at QDPI&F funded by Poultry CRC (Project 04-14)
Duration of Project: 1 December 2005 to 31 December 2009
Contents |
Project overview
Marek’s disease (MD) is caused by Marek’s disease virus 1 (MDV1) and is currently well controlled by vaccination. However, these vaccines do not prevent infection replication or shedding of wild-type MDV1. As a result, persistence of MDV1 in the production environment leads to a continuous cycle of challenge in vaccinated birds that has facilitated the emergence of wild-type MDV1 with increased virulence. At this stage, there are no alternatives to current vaccines if wild-type strains of MDV1 emerge that overcome the currently provided protection.
Project objectives
- Improve control of MD by understanding disease pathogenesis;
- Improve control of MD through novel genomic-based vaccination strategies; and
- Develop novel MD vaccines that prevent virus shedding and subsequent environmental persistence.
Project progress
An infectious clone that permits the growth of Herpesvirus of Turkeys (HVT) in bacteria is complete. The growth of HVT virus recovered from this infectious clone has been compared to wild-type virus in chickens. The analyses of the samples collected during this trial are currently underway. The construction of an infectious clone for MDV-1 (Woodlands) is almost complete. The construction of additional molecular constructs to enable the tracking of HVT and MDV1 in chickens is currently being finalised.
