mdv1-miR-M7-5p, located in the newly identified first intron of the latency-associated transcript of Marek’s disease virus, targets the immediate-early genes ICP4 and ICP27

Critical roles of non-coding RNAs in lifecycle and biology of Marek's disease herpesvirus

Over the past two decades, numerous non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been identified in different biological systems including virology, especially in large DNA viruses such as herpesviruses. As a representative oncogenic alphaherpesvirus, Marek's disease virus (MDV) causes an important immunosuppressive and rapid-onset neoplastic disease of poultry, namely Marek's disease (MD). Vaccinations can efficiently prevent the onset of MD lymphomas and other clinical disease, often heralded as the first successful example of vaccination-based control of cancer. MDV infection is also an excellent model for research into virally-induced tumorigenesis. Recently, great progress has been made in understanding the functions of ncRNAs in MD biology. Herein, we give a review of the discovery and identification of MDV-encoded viral miRNAs, focusing on the genomics, expression profiles, and emerging critical roles of MDV-1 miRNAs as oncogenic miRNAs (oncomiRs) or tumor suppressor genes involved in the induction of MD lymphomas. We also described the involvements of host cellular miRNAs, lincRNAs, and circRNAs participating in MDV life cycle, pathogenesis, and/or tumorigenesis. The prospects, strategies, and new techniques such as the CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing applicable for further investigation into the ncRNA-mediated regulatory mechanisms in MDV pathogenesis/oncogenesis were also discussed, together with the possibilities of future studies on antiviral therapy and the development of new efficient MD vaccines.

Temperature-induced reactivation of Marek's disease virus-transformed T cells ex vivo

Marek's disease virus (MDV) establishes latency in chicken T lymphocytes that can lead to T cell transformation and cancer. Transformed Marek's disease chicken cell lines (MDCCs) can be expanded ex vivo and provide a valuable model to study latency, transformation, and reactivation. Here, we developed MDCCs from chickens infected with MDV that fluoresce during lytic replication and reactivation. Sodium butyrate treatment increased fluorescent protein expression as evidenced by fluorescent microscopy, flow cytometry, and western blotting; however, it caused significant apoptosis and necrosis. Treatment of MDCCs by decreasing the temperature resulted in robust MDV reactivation without significant induction of apoptosis and necrosis. Furthermore, MDV reactivation was significantly affected by the time in culture that can affect downstream reactivation analyses. In all, our data show that fluorescent protein expression during reactivation is a robust tool to examine viral replication in live cells ex vivo, and temperature treatment is an efficient technique to induce reactivation without punitive effects on cell viability seen with chemical treatment.

Marek's Disease Virus Virulence Genes Encode Circular RNAs

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a recently rediscovered class of functional noncoding RNAs that are involved in gene regulation and cancer development. Next-generation sequencing approaches identified circRNA fragments and sequences underlying circularization events in virus-induced cancers. In the present study, we performed viral circRNA expression analysis and full-length sequencing in infections with Marek’s disease virus (MDV), which serves as a model for herpesvirus-induced tumorigenesis. We established inverse PCRs to identify and characterize circRNA expression from the repeat regions of the MDV genome during viral replication, latency, and reactivation. We identified a large variety of viral circRNAs through precise mapping of full-length circular transcripts and detected matching sequences with several viral genes. Hot spots of circRNA expression included the transcriptional unit of the major viral oncogene encoding the Meq protein and the latency-associated transcripts (LATs). Moreover, we performed genome-wide bioinformatic analyses to extract back-splice junctions from lymphoma-derived samples. Using this strategy, we found that circRNAs were abundantly expressed in vivo from the same key virulence genes. Strikingly, the observed back-splice junctions do not follow a unique canonical pattern, compatible with the U2-dependent splicing machinery. Numerous noncanonical junctions were observed in viral circRNA sequences characterized from in vitro and in vivo infections. Given the importance of the genes involved in the transcription of these circRNAs, our study contributes to our understanding and complexity of this deadly pathogen.

IMPORTANCE Circular RNAs (circRNAs) were rediscovered in recent years both in physiological and pathological contexts, such as in cancer. Viral circRNAs are encoded by at least two human herpesviruses, the Epstein Barr virus and the Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, both associated with the development of lymphoma. Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is a well-established animal model to study virus-induced lymphoma but circRNA expression has not been reported for MDV yet. Our study provided the first evidence of viral circRNAs that were expressed at key steps of the MDV lifecycle using genome-wide analyses of circRNAs. These circRNAs were primarily found in transcriptional units that corresponded to the major MDV virulence factors. In addition, we established a bioinformatics pipeline that offers a new tool to identify circular RNAs in other herpesviruses. This study on the circRNAs provided important insights into major MDV virulence genes and herpesviruses-mediated gene dysregulation.

The Marek's Disease Virus Unique Gene MDV082 Is Dispensable for Virus Replication but Contributes to a Rapid Disease Onset

Marek's disease virus (MDV) is a highly oncogenic alphaherpesvirus of chickens that causes lymphomas in various organs. Most MDV genes are conserved among herpesviruses, while others are unique to MDV and may contribute to pathogenesis and/or tumor formation. High transcript levels of the MDV-specific genes MDV082, RLORF11, and SORF6 were recently detected in lytically infected cells; however, it remained elusive if the respective proteins are expressed and if they play a role in MDV pathogenesis. In this study, we first addressed if these proteins are expressed by inserting FLAG tags at their N or C termini. We could demonstrate that among the three genes tested, MDV082 is the only gene that encodes a protein and is expressed very late in MDV plaques in vitro. To investigate the role of this novel MDV082 protein in MDV pathogenesis, we generated a recombinant virus that lacks expression of the MDV082 protein. Our data revealed that the MDV082 protein contributes to the rapid onset of Marek's disease but is not essential for virus replication, spread, and tumor formation. Taken together, this study sheds light on the expression of MDV-specific genes and unravels the role of the late protein MDV082 in MDV pathogenesis. IMPORTANCE MDV is a highly oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that causes Marek's disease in chickens. The virus causes immense economic losses in the poultry industry due to the high morbidity and mortality, but also the cost of the vaccination. MDV encodes over 100 genes that are involved in various processes of the viral life cycle. Functional characterization of MDV genes is an essential step toward understanding the complex virus life cycle and MDV pathogenesis. Here, we have identified a novel protein encoded by MDV082 and two potential noncoding RNAs (RLORF11 and SORF6). The novel MDV082 protein is not needed for efficient MDV replication and tumor formation. However, our data demonstrate that the MDV082 protein is involved in the rapid onset of Marek's disease.

Virus-encoded microRNA-M7 restricts early cytolytic replication and pathogenesis of Marek's disease virus

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of ∼22 nucleotides non-coding RNAs that are encoded by a wide range of hosts. Viruses, especially herpesviruses, encode a variety of miRNAs that involved in disease progression. Recently, a cluster of virus-encoded miRNAs, miR-M8-M10, have been shown to restrict early cytolytic replication and pathogenesis of Marek's disease virus (MDV), an oncogenic avian alphaherpesvirus that causes lymphoproliferative disease in chickens. In this study, we specifically dissected the role of miR-M7, a member of cluster miR-M8-M10, in regulating MDV replication and pathogenesis. We found that deletion of miR-M7-5p did not affect the virus plaque size and growth in cell culture. However, compared to parental virus, infection of miR-M7-5p deletion virus significantly increased MDV genome copy number at 5 days post infection, suggesting that miR-M7 plays a role to restrict MDV replication during early cytolytic phase. In addition, our results showed that infection of miR-M7-5p deletion virus significantly enhanced the mortality of chickens, even it induced lymphoid organ atrophy similar to parental and revertant viruses. Taken together, our study revealed that the miR-M7 acts as a repressive factor of MDV replication and pathogenesis.

Role of microRNA and long non-coding RNA in Marek's disease tumorigenesis in chicken

Marek's disease virus (MDV), the causative agent of Marek's disease (MD), results in highly infectious phymatosis, lymphatic tissue hyperplasia, and neoplasia. MD is associated with high morbidity and mortality rate. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) entails long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and microRNA (miRNA). Numerous studies have reported that specific miRNAs and lncRNAs participate in multiple cellular processes, such as proliferation, migration, and tumor cell invasion. Specialized miRNAs and lncRNAs militate a similar role in MD tumor oncogenesis. Despite its growing popularity, only a few reviews are available on ncRNA in MDV tumor oncogenes. Herein, we summarized the role of the miRNAs and lncRNAs in MD tumorigenesis. Altogether, we brought forth the research issues, such as MD prevention, screening, regulatory network formation, novel miRNAs, and lncRNAs analysis in MD that needs to be explored further. This review provides a theoretical platform for the further analysis of miRNAs and lncRNAs functions and the prevention and control of MD and malignancies in domestic animals.

Marek's Disease Virus Cluster 3 miRNAs Restrict Virus' Early Cytolytic Replication and Pathogenesis

Herpesvirus-encoded microRNAs (miRNAs) have been discovered in infected cells; however, lack of a suitable animal model has hampered functional analyses of viral miRNAs in vivo. Marek’s disease virus (MDV) (Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2, GaHV-2) genome contains 14 miRNA precursors, which encode 26 mature miRNAs, grouped into three clusters. In this study, the role of MDV-encoded cluster 3 miRNAs, also known as mdv1-miR-M8-M10, in pathogenesis was evaluated in chickens, the natural host of MDV. Our results show that deletion of cluster 3 miRNAs did not affect virus replication and plaque size in cell culture, but increased early cytolytic replication of MDV in chickens. We also observed that deletion of cluster 3 miRNAs resulted in significantly higher virus reactivation from peripheral blood lymphocytes. In addition, pathogenesis studies showed that deletion of cluster 3 miRNAs resulted in more severe atrophy of lymphoid organs and reduced mean death time, but did not affect the incidence of MDV-associated visceral tumors. We confirmed these results by generating a cluster 3 miRNA revertant virus in which the parental MDV phenotype was restored. To the best of our knowledge, our study provides the first evidence that MDV cluster 3 miRNAs play an important role in modulating MDV pathogenesis.

Marek's Disease Virus (Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2)-Encoded miR-M2-5p Simultaneously Promotes Cell Proliferation and Suppresses Apoptosis Through RBM24 and MYOD1-Mediated Signaling Pathways

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been demonstrated for their involvement in virus biology and pathogenesis, including functioning as key determinants of virally-induced cancers. As an important oncogenic α-herpesvirus affecting poultry health, Marek’s disease virus serotype 1 [Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2)] induces rapid-onset T-cell lymphomatous disease commonly referred to as Marek’s disease (MD), an excellent biological model for the study of virally-induced cancer in the natural hosts. Previously, we have demonstrated that GaHV-2-encoded miRNAs (especially those within the Meq-cluster) have the potential to act as critical regulators of multiple processes such as virus replication, latency, pathogenesis, and/or oncogenesis. In addition to miR-M4-5p (miR-155 homolog) and miR-M3-5p, we have recently found that miR-M2-5p possibly participate in inducing MD lymphomagenesis. Here, we report the identification of two tumor suppressors, the RNA-binding protein 24 (RBM24) and myogenic differentiation 1 (MYOD1), being two biological targets for miR-M2-5p. Our experiments revealed that as a critical miRNA, miR-M2-5p promotes cell proliferation via regulating the RBM24-mediated p63 overexpression and MYOD1-mediated IGF2 signaling and suppresses apoptosis by targeting the MYOD1-mediated Caspase-3 signaling pathway. Our data present a new strategy of a single viral miRNA exerting dual role to potentially participate in the virally-induced T-cell lymphomagenesis by simultaneously promoting the cell proliferation and suppressing apoptosis.

Efficient Mutagenesis of Marek's Disease Virus-Encoded microRNAs Using a CRISPR/Cas9-Based Gene Editing System

The virus-encoded microRNAs (miRNAs) have been demonstrated to have important regulatory roles in herpesvirus biology, including virus replication, latency, pathogenesis and/or tumorigenesis. As an emerging efficient tool for gene editing, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas9 system has been successfully applied in manipulating the genomes of large DNA viruses. Herein, utilizing the CRISPR/Cas9 system with a double-guide RNAs transfection/virus infection strategy, we have established a new platform for mutagenesis of viral miRNAs encoded by the Marek's disease virus serotype 1 (MDV-1), an oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that can induce rapid-onset T-cell lymphomas in chickens. A series of miRNA-knocked out (miR-KO) mutants with deletions of the Meq- or the mid-clustered miRNAs, namely RB-1B∆Meq-miRs, RB-1B∆M9-M2, RB-1B∆M4, RB-1B∆M9 and RB-1B∆M11, were generated from vvMDV strain RB-1B virus. Interestingly, mutagenesis of the targeted miRNAs showed changes in the in vitro virus growth kinetics, which is consistent with that of the in vivo proliferation curves of our previously reported GX0101 mutants produced by the bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone and Rec E/T homologous recombination techniques. Our data demonstrate that the CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing is a simple, efficient and relatively nondisruptive approach for manipulating the small non-coding genes from the genome of herpesvirus and will undoubtedly contribute significantly to the future progress in herpesvirus biology.

Latest Insights into Marek's Disease Virus Pathogenesis and Tumorigenesis

Marek’s disease virus (MDV) infects chickens and causes one of the most frequent cancers in animals. Over 100 years of research on this oncogenic alphaherpesvirus has led to a profound understanding of virus-induced tumor development. Live-attenuated vaccines against MDV were the first that prevented cancer and minimized the losses in the poultry industry. Even though the current gold standard vaccine efficiently protects against clinical disease, the virus continuously evolves towards higher virulence. Emerging field strains were able to overcome the protection provided by the previous two vaccine generations. Research over the last few years revealed important insights into the virus life cycle, cellular tropism, and tumor development that are summarized in this review. In addition, we discuss recent data on the MDV transcriptome, the constant evolution of this highly oncogenic virus towards higher virulence, and future perspectives in MDV research.

The Roles of MicroRNAs (miRNAs) in Avian Response to Viral Infection and Pathogenesis of Avian Immunosuppressive Diseases

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding small RNAs that play important roles in the regulation of various biological processes including cell development and differentiation, apoptosis, tumorigenesis, immunoregulation and viral infections. Avian immunosuppressive diseases refer to those avian diseases caused by pathogens that target and damage the immune organs or cells of the host, increasing susceptibility to other microbial infections and the risk of failure in subsequent vaccination against other diseases. As such, once a disease with an immunosuppressive feature occurs in flocks, it would be difficult for the stakeholders to have an optimal economic income. Infectious bursal disease (IBD), avian leukemia (AL), Marek’s disease (MD), chicken infectious anemia (CIA), reticuloendotheliosis (RE) and avian reovirus infection are on the top list of commonly-seen avian diseases with a feature of immunosuppression, posing an unmeasurable threat to the poultry industry across the globe. Understanding the pathogenesis of avian immunosuppressive disease is the basis for disease prevention and control. miRNAs have been shown to be involved in host response to pathogenic infections in chickens, including regulation of immunity, tumorigenesis, cell proliferation and viral replication. Here we summarize current knowledge on the roles of miRNAs in avian response to viral infection and pathogenesis of avian immunosuppressive diseases, in particular, MD, AL, IBD and RE.

GaHV-2 ICP22 protein is expressed from a bicistronic transcript regulated by three GaHV-2 microRNAs

Herpesviruses have a lifecycle consisting of successive lytic, latent and reactivation phases. Only three infected cell proteins (ICPs) have been described for the oncogenic Marek's disease virus (or Gallid herpes virus 2, GaHV-2): ICP4, ICP22 and ICP27. We focus here on ICP22, confirming its cytoplasmic location and showing that ICP22 is expressed during productive phases of the lifecycle, via a bicistronic transcript encompassing the US10 gene. We also identified the unique promoter controlling ICP22 expression, and its core promoter, containing functional responsive elements including E-box, ETS-1 and GATA elements involved in ICP22 transactivation. ICP22 gene expression was weakly regulated by DNA methylation and activated by ICP4 or ICP27 proteins. We also investigated the function of GaHV-2 ICP22. We found that this protein repressed transcription from its own promoter and from those of IE ICP4 and ICP27, and the late gK promoter. Finally, we investigated posttranscriptional ICP22 regulation by GaHV-2 microRNAs. We found that mdv1-miR-M5-3p and -M1-5p downregulated ICP22 mRNA expression during latency, whereas, unexpectedly, mdv1-miR-M4-5p upregulated the expression of the protein ICP22, indicating a tight regulation of ICP22 expression by microRNAs.

Phylogenetic and molecular epidemiological studies reveal evidence of recombination among Marek's disease viruses

Marek's disease has brought enormous loss in chicken production worldwide and the increasing virulence of Marek's disease virus (MDV) became a severe problem. To better understand the genetic basis underlying, a Chinese MDV strain HNGS101 isolated from immunized chickens was sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis implied that HNGS101 showed more relatedness to Eurasian strains than GaHV-2 circulating in North America. Recombination networks analysis showed the evidence of recombination among MDV strains, and several recombination events in the UL and US region were found. Further analysis indicated that the HNGS101 strain seemed to be generated by the recombination of the earliest Eurasian strains and North American strains in the US region, which may be responsible for the MD outbreaks in China. In summary, this study demonstrates recombination events among MDV strains [corrected], which may shed light on the mechanism of virulence enhancement.

Virulent duck enteritis virus infected DEF cells generate a unique pattern of viral microRNAs and a novel set of host microRNAs

Background

Duck enteritis virus (DEV) belongs to the family Herpesviridae and is an important epornitic agent that causes economic losses in the waterfowl industry. The Chinese virulent (CHv) and attenuate vaccines (VAC) are two different pathogenic DEV strains. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression in viral infection. Nonetheless, there is little information on virulent duck enteritis virus (DEV)-encoded miRNAs.

Results

Using high-throughput sequencing, we identified 39 mature viral miRNAs from CHv-infected duck embryo fibroblasts cells. Compared with the reported 33 VAC-encoded miRNAs, only 13 miRNA sequences and 22 “seed sequences” of miRNA were identical, and 8 novel viral miRNAs were detected and confirmed by stem-loop RT-qPCR in this study. Using RNAhybrid and PITA software, 38 CHv-encoded miRNAs were predicted to target 41 viral genes and formed a complex regulatory network. Dual luciferase reporter assay (DLRA) confirmed that viral dev-miR-D8-3p can directly target the 3’-UTR of CHv US1 gene (p < 0.05). Gene Ontology analysis on host target genes of viral miRNAs were mainly involved in biological regulation, cellular and metabolic processes. In addition, 598 novel duck-encoded miRNAs were detected in this study. Thirty-eight host miRNAs showed significant differential expression after CHv infection: 13 miRNAs were up-regulated, and 25 miRNAs were down-regulated, which may affect viral replication in the host cell.

Conclusions

These data suggested that CHv encoded a different set of microRNAs and formed a unique regulatory network compared with VAC. This is the first report of DEF miRNAs expression profile and an analysis of these miRNAs regulatory mechanisms during DEV infection. These data provide a basis for further exploring miRNA regulatory roles in the pathogenesis of DEV infection and contribute to the understanding of the CHv-host interaction at the miRNA level.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-018-1468-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Specific transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of the major immediate early ICP4 gene of GaHV-2 during the lytic, latent and reactivation phases

Transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms are involved in the switch between the lytic, latent and reactivation phases of the viral cycle in herpesviruses. During the productive phases, herpesvirus gene expression is characterized by a temporally regulated cascade of immediate early (IE), early (E) and late (L) genes. In alphaherpesviruses, the major product of the IE ICP4 gene is a transcriptional regulator that initiates the cascade of gene expression that is essential for viral replication. In this study, we redefine the infected cell protein 4 (ICP4) gene of the oncogenic Marek's disease virus (MDV or gallid herpesvirus 2) as a 9438 nt gene ended with four alternative poly(A) signals and controlled by two alternative promoters containing essentially ubiquitous functional response elements (GC, TATA and CCAAT boxes). The distal promoter is associated with ICP4 gene expression during the lytic and the latent phases, whereas the proximal promoter is associated with the expression of this gene during the reactivation phase. Both promoters are regulated by DNA methylation during the viral cycle and are hypermethylated during latency. Transcript analyses showed ICP4 to consist of three exons and two introns, the alternative splicing of which is associated with five predicted nested ICP4ORFs. We show that the ICP4 gene is highly and specifically regulated by transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms during the three phases of the GaHV-2 viral cycle, with a clear difference in expression between the lytic phase and reactivation from latency in our model.

A Tiny RNA that Packs a Big Punch: The Critical Role of a Viral miR-155 Ortholog in Lymphomagenesis in Marek's Disease

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that have been identified in animals, plants, and viruses. These small RNAs play important roles in post-transcriptional regulation of various cellular processes, including development, differentiation, and all aspects of cancer biology. Rapid-onset T-cell lymphoma of chickens, namely Marek’s disease (MD), induced by Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaHV2), could provide an ideal natural animal model for herpesvirus-related cancer research. GaHV2 encodes 26 mature miRNAs derived from 14 precursors assembled in three distinct gene clusters in the viral genome. One of the most highly expressed GaHV2 miRNAs, miR-M4-5p, shows high sequence similarity to the cellular miR-155 and the miR-K12-11 encoded by Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, particularly in the miRNA “seed region.” As with miR-K12-11, miR-M4-5p shares a common set of host and viral target genes with miR-155, suggesting that they may target the same regulatory cellular networks; however, differences in regulatory function between miR-155 and miR-M4-5p may distinguish non-viral and viral mediated tumorigenesis. In this review, we focus on the functions of miR-M4-5p as the viral ortholog of miR-155 to explore how the virus mimics a host pathway to benefit the viral life cycle and trigger virus-induced tumorigenesis.

Marek's disease virus type 1 encoded analog of miR-155 promotes proliferation of chicken embryo fibroblast and DF-1 cells by targeting hnRNPAB

Marek's disease virus type 1 (MDV-1) is a representative oncogenic Alpha herpesvirus that causes an immunosuppressive and neoplastic lymphoproliferative avian disease, namely Marek's disease (MD). The rapid-onset T-cell lymphoma in chickens induced by MDV-1 has been historically regarded as an ideal natural model for herpesvirus-related cancer research. As a viral analog of cellular miR-155, the MDV-1-encoded miR-M4-5p has been shown to be crucial for the virally-induced MD tumorigenesis. Our previous studies demonstrated that miR-M4-5p induces an over-expression of oncogene c-Myc by targeting LTBP1 and suppressing the TGF-β signaling pathway during MDV-1 infection. We have now further identified the chicken heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein AB (hnRNPAB) as a new cellular biological target for miR-M4-5p. Suppression of hnRNPAB expression mediated by miR-M4-5p promotes the proliferation, but not the apoptosis, of both primary chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs) and transformed chicken fibroblast DF-1 cell line. HnRNPAB is a member of the hnRNP family of proteins that play important roles in normal biological processes as well as cancer development. Our data suggests that the recognition and down-regulation of hnRNPAB by miR-M4-5p may be one of the important strategies for MDV-1 to trigger the development of MD lymphomas.

Co-Infection with Marek's Disease Virus and Reticuloendotheliosis Virus Increases Illness Severity and Reduces Marek's Disease Vaccine Efficacy

Marek's disease virus (MDV) and reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) cause Marek's disease (MD) and reticuloendotheliosis (RE), respectively. Co-infection with MDV and REV is common in chickens, causing serious losses to the poultry industry. However, experimental studies of such co-infection are lacking. In this study, Chinese field strains of MDV (ZW/15) and REV (JLR1501) were used as challenge viruses to evaluate the pathogenicity of co-infection and the influence of MD vaccination in chickens. Compared to the MDV-challenged group, the mortality and tumor rates increased significantly by 20.0% (76.7 to 96.7%) and 26.7% (53.3 to 80.0%), in the co-challenged group, respectively. The protective index of the MD vaccines CVI988 and 814 decreased by 33.3 (80.0 to 47.7) and 13.3 (90.0 to 76.7), respectively. These results indicated that MDV and REV co-infection significantly increased disease severity and reduced the vaccine efficacy. The MDV genome load showed no difference in the feather pulps and spleen, and pathogenicity-related MDV gene expression (meq, pp38, vIL-8, and ICP4) in the spleen significantly increased at some time points in the co-challenged group. Clearly, synergistic pathogenicity occurred between MDV and REV, and the protective efficacy of existing MD vaccines was attenuated by co-infection with Chinese field MDV and REV strains.

Putative roles as oncogene or tumour suppressor of the Mid-clustered microRNAs in Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaHV2) induced Marek's disease lymphomagenesis

In the last decade, numerous microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified in diverse virus families, particularly in herpesviruses. Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaHV2) is a representative oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that induces rapid-onset T-cell lymphomas in its natural hosts, namely Marek’s disease (MD). In the GaHV2 genome there are 26 mature miRNAs derived from 14 precursors assembled into three clusters, namely the Meq-cluster, Mid-cluster and LAT-cluster. Several GaHV2 miRNAs, especially those in the Meq-cluster (e.g. miR-M4-5p), have been demonstrated to be critical in MD pathogenesis and/or tumorigenesis. Interestingly the downstream Mid-cluster is regulated and transcribed by the same promoter as the Meq-cluster in the latent phase of the infection, but the role of these Mid-clustered miRNAs in GaHV2 biology remains unclear. We have generated the deletion mutants of the Mid-cluster and of its associated individual miRNAs in GX0101 virus, a very virulent GaHV2 strain, and demonstrated that the Mid-clustered miRNAs are not essential for virus replication. Using GaHV2-infected chickens as an animal model, we found that, compared with parental GX0101 virus, the individual deletion of miR-M31 decreased the mortality and gross tumour incidence of infected chickens while the deletion individually of miR-M1 or miR-M11 unexpectedly increased viral pathogenicity or oncogenicity, similarly to the deletion of the entire Mid-cluster region. More importantly, our data further confirm that miR-M11-5p, the miR-M11-derived mature miRNA, targets the viral oncogene meq and suppresses its expression in GaHV2 infection. We report here that members of the Mid-clustered miRNAs, miR-M31-3p and miR-M11-5p, potentially act either as oncogene or tumour suppressor in MD lymphomagenesis.

MicroRNAs in large herpesvirus DNA genomes: recent advances

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that regulate gene expression. They alter mRNA translation through base-pair complementarity, leading to regulation of genes during both physiological and pathological processes. Viruses have evolved mechanisms to take advantage of the host cells to multiply and/or persist over the lifetime of the host. Herpesviridae are a large family of double-stranded DNA viruses that are associated with a number of important diseases, including lymphoproliferative diseases. Herpesviruses establish lifelong latent infections through modulation of the interface between the virus and its host. A number of reports have identified miRNAs in a very large number of human and animal herpesviruses suggesting that these short non-coding transcripts could play essential roles in herpesvirus biology. This review will specifically focus on the recent advances on the functions of herpesvirus miRNAs in infection and pathogenesis.

Alternative splicing of a viral mirtron differentially affects the expression of other microRNAs from its cluster and of the host transcript

Interplay between alternative splicing and the Microprocessor may have differential effects on the expression of intronic miRNAs organized into clusters. We used a viral model - the LAT long non-coding RNA (LAT lncRNA) of Marek's disease oncogenic herpesvirus (MDV-1), which has the mdv1-miR-M8-M6-M7-M10 cluster embedded in its first intron - to assess the impact of splicing modifications on the biogenesis of each of the miRNAs from the cluster. Drosha silencing and alternative splicing of an extended exon 2 of the LAT lncRNA from a newly identified 3' splice site (SS) at the end of the second miRNA of the cluster showed that mdv1-miR-M6 was a 5'-tailed mirtron. We have thus identified the first 5'-tailed mirtron within a cluster of miRNAs for which alternative splicing is directly associated with differential expression of the other miRNAs of the cluster, with an increase in intronic mdv1-miR-M8 expression and a decrease in expression of the exonic mdv1-miR-M7, and indirectly associated with regulation of the host transcript. According to the alternative 3SS used for the host intron splicing, the mdv1-miR-M6 is processed as a mirtron by the spliceosome, dispatching the other miRNAs of the cluster into intron and exon, or as a canonical miRNA by the Microprocessor complex. The viral mdv1-miR-M6 mirtron is the first mirtron described that can also follow the canonical pathway.

Hyperediting by ADAR1 of a new herpesvirus lncRNA during the lytic phase of the oncogenic Marek's disease virus

Marek's disease virus, or Gallid herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2), is an avian alphaherpesvirus that induces T-cell lymphoma in chickens. During transcriptomic studies of the RL region of the genome, we characterized the 7.5 kbp gene of the ERL lncRNA (edited repeat-long, long non-coding RNA), which may act as a natural antisense transcript (NAT) of the major GaHV-2 oncogene meq and of two of the three miRNA clusters. During infections in vivo and in vitro, we detected hyperediting of the ERL lncRNA that appeared to be directly correlated with ADAR1 expression levels. The ERL lncRNA was expressed equally during the lytic and latent phases of infection and during viral reactivation, but its hyperediting increased only during the lytic infection of chicken embryo fibroblasts. We also showed that chicken ADAR1 expression was controlled by the JAK/STAT IFN-response pathway, through an inducible promoter containing IFN-stimulated response elements that were functional during stimulation with IFN-α or poly(I:C). Like the human and murine miR-155-5p, the chicken gga-miR-155-5p and the GaHV-2 analogue mdv1-miR-M4-5p deregulated this pathway by targeting and repressing expression of suppressor of cytokine signalling 1, leading to the upregulation of ADAR1. Finally, we hypothesized that the natural antisense transcript role of the ERL lncRNA could be disrupted by its hyperediting, particularly during viral lytic replication, and that the observed deregulation of the innate immune system by mdv1-miR-M4-5p might contribute to the viral cycle.

Oncogenic Marek's disease herpesvirus encodes an isoform of the conserved regulatory immediate early protein ICP27 generated by alternative promoter usage

Herpesvirus gene expression is temporally regulated, with immediate early (IE), early (E) and late (L) genes. ICP27, which is involved in post-transcriptional regulation, is the only IE gene product conserved in all herpesviruses. We show here that the ICP27 transcript of the oncogenic Marek's disease virus shares the same polyadenylation signal as the bicistronic glycoprotein K-ICP27 transcript and is regulated by alternative promoter usage, with transcription from its own promoter (pICP27) or that of gK (pgK). The pgK can generate a spliced ICP27 transcript yielding an N-terminal-deleted ICP27 isoform (ICP27ΔN) that, like ICP27, co-localizes with the SR protein in infected cells, but with a diffuse nuclear distribution. The pICP27 includes functional responsive elements (REs) for SP1, AP1 and CREB, is essentially active during the lytic phase and leads to exclusive expression of the native form of ICP27. The alternative promoter, pgK, including active REs for GATA, P53 and CREB, preferentially generates the gK transcript during the lytic phase and the spliced ICP27 transcript (ICP27ΔN) during the latent phase. An analysis of the DNA methylation marks of each promoter showed that pgK was systematically demethylated, whereas pICP27 was methylated during latency and demethylated during the lytic stage. Thus, MDV ICP27 gene expression is dependent on alternative promoters, the usage of which is regulated by DNA methylation, which differs between viral stages.

Genetic evolution of Gallid herpesvirus 2 isolated in China

Gallid herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2), which causes Marek's disease in chickens and has caused extensive economic losses, has recently evolved increased virulence in China. To better understand the genetic basis of the pathogenic characteristics changed and increased virulence, we sequenced the genomes of six new GaHV-2 strains (LCC, LTS, WC/1203, JL/1404, CC/1409, and HS/1412) isolated from chickens with failed immunisation as well as one previously isolated Chinese GaHV-2 strain, J-1. Based on a multiple sequence alignment, several characteristic point mutations were detected in the open reading frames of the Chinese isolates. In addition, two deletions and an insertion were identified at the unique short region and terminal repeat short region junctions in Chinese isolates, and the insertion was a characteristic of the new Chinese isolates. According to a phylogenetic analysis, the GaHV-2 genome diverged substantially over the last two decades in China. Based on the internal repeat long region, the new isolates were closely related to very virulent or very virulent plus strains. Additionally, the new Chinese isolates diverged from the previously isolated strains J-1 and 814. In conclusion, our results provide evidence that Chinese GaHV-2 strains contain characteristic sequences, especially the new isolates. The observed genetic divergence in the new Chinese GaHV-2 strains over the last two decades may be related to observed changes in pathogenic characteristics and virulence.

Alphaherpesvirus Latency: A Dynamic State of Transcription and Reactivation

Alphaherpesviruses infect a variety of species from sea turtles to man and can cause significant disease in mammals including humans and livestock. These viruses are characterized by a lytic and latent state in nerve ganglia, with the ability to establish a lifelong latent infection that is interrupted by periodic reactivation. Previously, it was accepted that latency was a dominant state and that only during relatively infrequent reactivation episodes did latent genomes within ganglia become transcriptionally active. Here, we review recent data, focusing mainly on Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 which indicate that the latent state is more dynamic than recently appreciated.

Activation of Toll-like receptor 3 inhibits Marek's disease virus infection in chicken embryo fibroblast cells

Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) is a critical component of the innate immune system against viral infection and controls the activation of adaptive immunity. The role of TLR3 in Marek's disease virus (MDV) infection is not clear. In this study, we found that the abundance of TLR3 mRNA was significantly higher in chicken embryo fibroblast cells (CEF) infected with MDV than in a control group. Activated TLR3 signaling via TLR3 ligand stimulation inhibited replication of the RB1B strain of MDV in CEF cells. In contrast, CEF cells transfected with TLR3 siRNA promoted RB1B infection and replication. However, treatment with other TLR ligands, whether stimulatory (LPS, imiquimod and CpG) or inhibitory (TLR2/4 inhibitor and/or MyD88 inhibitor), had little effect on RB1B infection and replication. In addition, we found that the expression trend of TLR3 mRNA in RB1B-infected CEF cells was similar to that of mdv1-mir-M4-5p (a functional ortholog of oncogenic miR-155 encoded by MDV). Inconsistent with this, the TLR3 protein level was sharply reduced in RB1B-infected CEF cells at 96 hpi, while there was an at least 200-fold increase in miR-M4-5p at the same time point. Additionally, CEF cells transfected with an mdv1-mir-M4-5p mimic promoted RB1B infection and replication, while an mdv1-mir-M4-5p inhibitor inhibited RB1B infection and replication. Similar results were observed in CEF cells transfected with a gga-miR-155 mimic or inhibitor. These findings suggest that TLR3 and MDV-encoded miRNAs might be involved in MDV infection.

Marek's disease: Genetic regulation of gallid herpesvirus 2 infection and latency

Gallid herpesvirus-2 (GaHV-2) is an oncogenic α-herpesvirus that causes Marek's disease (MD), a T cell lymphosarcoma (lymphoma) of domestic fowl (chickens). The GaHV-2 genome integrates by homologous recombination into the host genome and, by modulating expression of viral and cellular genes, induces transformation of latently infected cells. MD is a unique model of viral oncogenesis. Mechanisms implicated in the regulation of viral and cellular genes during GaHV-2 infection operate at transcriptional, post-transcriptional and post-translational levels, with involvement of viral and cellular transcription factors, along with epigenetic modifications, alternative splicing, microRNAs and post-translational modifications of viral proteins. Meq, the major oncogenic protein of GaHV-2, is a viral transcription factor that modulates expression of viral genes, for example by binding to the viral bidirectional promoter of the pp38-pp24/1.8 kb mRNA, and also modulates expression of cellular genes, such as Bcl-2 and matrix metalloproteinase 3. GaHV-2 expresses viral telomerase RNA subunit (vTR), which forms a complex with the cellular telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), thus contributing to tumorigenesis, while vTR independent of telomerase activity is implicated in metastasis. Expression of a viral interleukin 8 homologue may contribute to lymphomagenesis. Inhibition of expression of the pro-apoptotic factors JARID2 and SMAD2 by viral microRNAs may promote the survival and proliferation of GaHV-2 latently infected cells, thus enhancing tumorigenesis, while inhibition of interleukin 18 by viral microRNAs may be involved in evasion of immune surveillance. Viral envelope glycoproteins derived from glycoprotein B (gp60 and gp49), as well as glycoprotein C, may also play a role in immune evasion.

In vivo expression patterns of microRNAs of Gallid herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2) during the virus life cycle and development of Marek's disease lymphomas

In the past decade, a large number of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified in the viral genome of Gallid herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2), which is historically known as Marek’s disease virus type 1. The biological role of most GaHV-2 miRNAs remains unclear. In the present study, we have performed an overall gene expression profile of GaHV-2 miRNAs during the virus life cycle at each phase of the developing disease, a highly contagious, lymphoproliferative disorder, and neoplastic immunosuppressive disease of poultry known as the Marek’s disease. According to their distinct in vivo expression patterns, the GaHV-2 miRNAs can be divided into three groups: 12 miRNAs in group I, including miR-M4-5p, displayed a typical expression pattern potentially correlated to the latent, late cytolytic, and/or the proliferative phases in the cycle of GaHV-2 pathogenesis; group II consisting of another 12 miRNAs with expression correlated to the early cytolytic and/or latent phases in GaHV-2’s life cycle; while the other two miRNAs in group III showed no identical expression features. Our findings may provide meaningful clues in the search for further potential functions of viral miRNAs in GaHV-2 biology.

Vaccine and oncogenic strains of gallid herpesvirus 2 contain specific subtype variations in the 5' region of the latency-associated transcript that evolve in vitro and in vivo

Gallid herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2) is the alphaherpesvirus responsible for Marek's disease (MD), a T-cell lymphoma of chickens. The virulence of the GaHV-2 field strain is steadily increasing, but MD is still controlled by the CVI988/Rispens vaccine. We tried to determine distinguishing traits of the CVI988/Rispens vaccine by focusing on the 5' end region of the latency-associated transcript (5'LAT). It includes a variable number of 60-bp tandem repeats depending on the GaHV-2 strain. By analyzing six batches of vaccine, we showed that CVI988/Rispens consisted of a population of 5'LAT molecular subtypes, all with deletions and lacking 60-bp tandem repeat motifs, with two major subtypes that probably constitute CVI988/Rispens markers. Serial passages in cell culture led to a substantial change in the frequency of CVI988/Rispens 5'LAT subtypes, with non-deleted subtypes harboring up to four 60-bp repeats emerging during the last few passages. Dynamic changes in the distribution of 5'LAT-deleted subtypes were also detected after infection of chickens. By contrast, the 5'LAT region of the oncogenic clonal RB-1B strain, which was investigated at every step from the isolation of the clonal bacmid RB-1B DNA to the isolation of the ovarian lymphoma cell line, consisted of non-deleted 5'LAT subtypes harboring at least two 60-bp repeats. Thus, vaccine and oncogenic GaHV-2 strains consist of specific populations of viral genomes that are constantly evolving in vivo and in vitro and providing potential markers for epidemiological surveys.

Balance and Stealth: The Role of Noncoding RNAs in the Regulation of Virus Gene Expression

In the past two decades, our knowledge of gene regulation has been greatly expanded by the discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs). miRNAs are small (19-24 nt) noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) found in metazoans, plants, and some viruses. They have been shown to regulate many cellular processes, including differentiation, maintenance of homeostasis, apoptosis, and the immune response. At present, there are over 300 known viral miRNAs encoded by diverse virus families. One well-characterized function of some viral miRNAs is the regulation of viral transcripts. Host miRNAs can also regulate viral gene expression. We propose that viruses take advantage of both host and viral ncRNA regulation to balance replication and infectious state (for example, latent versus lytic infection). As miRNA regulation can be reversed upon certain cellular stresses, we hypothesize that ncRNAs can serve viruses as barometers for cellular stress.

Small RNA cloning and sequencing strategy affects host and viral microRNA expression signatures

The establishment of the microRNA (miRNA) expression signatures is the basic element to investigate the role played by these regulatory molecules in the biology of an organism. Marek's disease virus 1 (MDV-1) is an avian herpesvirus that naturally infects chicken and induces T cells lymphomas. During latency, MDV-1, like other herpesviruses, expresses a limited subset of transcripts. These include three miRNA clusters. Several studies identified the expression of virus and host encoded miRNAs from MDV-1 infected cell cultures and chickens. But a high discrepancy was observed when miRNA cloning frequencies obtained from different cloning and sequencing protocols were compared. Thus, we analyzed the effect of small RNA library preparation and sequencing on the miRNA frequencies obtained from the same RNA samples collected during MDV-1 infection of chicken at different steps of the oncoviral pathogenesis. Qualitative and quantitative variations were found in the data, depending on the strategy used. One of the mature miRNA derived from the latency-associated-transcript (LAT), mdv1-miR-M7-5p, showed the highest variation. Its cloning frequency was 50% of the viral miRNA counts when a small scale sequencing approach was used. Its frequency was 100 times less abundant when determined through the deep sequencing approach. Northern blot analysis showed a better correlation with the miRNA frequencies found by the small scale sequencing approach. By analyzing the cellular miRNA repertoire, we also found a gap between the two sequencing approaches. Collectively, our study indicates that next-generation sequencing data considered alone are limited for assessing the absolute copy number of transcripts. Thus, the quantification of small RNA should be addressed by compiling data obtained by using different techniques such as microarrays, qRT-PCR and NB analysis in support of high throughput sequencing data. These observations should be considered when miRNA variations are studied prior addressing functional studies.

Role of virus-encoded microRNAs in Avian viral diseases

With total dependence on the host cell, several viruses have adopted strategies to modulate the host cellular environment, including the modulation of microRNA (miRNA) pathway through virus-encoded miRNAs. Several avian viruses, mostly herpesviruses, have been shown to encode a number of novel miRNAs. These include the highly oncogenic Marek’s disease virus-1 (26 miRNAs), avirulent Marek’s disease virus-2 (36 miRNAs), herpesvirus of turkeys (28 miRNAs), infectious laryngotracheitis virus (10 miRNAs), duck enteritis virus (33 miRNAs) and avian leukosis virus (2 miRNAs). Despite the closer antigenic and phylogenetic relationship among some of the herpesviruses, miRNAs encoded by different viruses showed no sequence conservation, although locations of some of the miRNAs were conserved within the repeat regions of the genomes. However, some of the virus-encoded miRNAs showed significant sequence homology with host miRNAs demonstrating their ability to serve as functional orthologs. For example, mdv1-miR-M4-5p, a functional ortholog of gga-miR-155, is critical for the oncogenicity of Marek’s disease virus. Additionally, we also describe the potential association of the recently described avian leukosis virus subgroup J encoded E (XSR) miRNA in the induction of myeloid tumors in certain genetically-distinct chicken lines. In this review, we describe the advances in our understanding on the role of virus-encoded miRNAs in avian diseases.

Marek's disease virus may interfere with T cell immunity by TLR3 signals

Marek's disease virus (MDV) is a highly oncogenic alpha-herpesvirus that causes T cell immune suppression and malignant lymphomas in chickens. Toll-like receptor (TLR) plays a dominant role in antiviral T cell immunity. However, it is unclear whether MDV induced T cell immunity is associated with TLR-mediated immunity. In this study, the expression of 28 host genes that are involved in TLR-mediated immunity and MHC-medicated T cell immunity was evaluated in chicken thymus at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post-infection (dpi). Our results demonstrated that 24 host immune-related genes were upregulated during MDV infection at 7 dpi; however, the expression of most of these genes decreased at 21 and 28 dpi. Notably, a positive correlation was found between the down-regulation of CD4, CD8 and TLR3 signals but not the MyD88-dependent TLR pathway. The present study expanded our knowledge of host immune responses against MDV infection and our results might provide a clue that MDV may interfere with T cell immune response through TLR3 signals.

Analysis of the mRNA targetome of microRNAs expressed by Marek's disease virus

Marek’s disease virus 1 (MDV-1), an oncogenic α-herpesvirus that induces T-cell lymphomas in chickens, serves as model system to study transformation by lymphotropic herpesviruses. Like the oncogenic human γ-herpesviruses Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), MDV-1 encodes several viral microRNAs (miRNAs). One MDV-1 miRNA, miR-M4, shares the same “seed” targeting sequence with both a KSHV miRNA, miR-K11, and cellular miR-155. Importantly, miR-M4 plays a critical role in T-cell transformation by MDV-1, while miR-K11 and cellular miR-155 are thought to play key roles in B-cell transformation by KSHV and EBV, respectively. Here, we present an analysis of the mRNAs targeted by viral miRNAs expressed in the chicken T-cell line MSB1, which is naturally coinfected with MDV-1 and the related nonpathogenic virus MDV-2. Our analysis identified >1,000 endogenous mRNAs targeted by miRNAs encoded by each virus, many of which are targeted by both MDV-1 and MDV-2 miRNAs. We present a functional analysis of an MDV-1 gene, RLORF8, targeted by four MDV-1 miRNAs and a cellular gene, encoding interleukin-18 (IL-18) and targeted by both MDV-1 and MDV-2 miRNAs, and show that ectopic expression of either protein in a form resistant to miRNA inhibition results in inhibition of cell proliferation. Finally, we present a restricted list of 9 genes targeted by not only MDV-1 miR-M4 but also KSHV miR-K11 and human miR-155. Given the critical role played by miR-155 seed family members in lymphomagenesis in humans and chickens, these mRNA targets may contain genes whose inhibition plays a conserved role in herpesvirus transformation.

Herpesviruses cause lymphomas in both humans and chickens, and in both cases, evidence indicates that virally encoded miRNAs, or virally subverted cellular miRNAs, belonging to the miR-155 seed family, play a critical role in this process. However, because each miRNA regulates numerous cellular mRNAs species, it has been difficult to elucidate which miRNA targets are important. Given the evolutionary distance between chickens and humans and the observation that miR-155 is nevertheless highly conserved in both species, we reasoned that the identification of shared miR-155 targets might shed light on this process. Here, we present an analysis of the mRNAs targeted by miRNAs encoded by the oncogenic avian herpesvirus MDV-1 in transformed chicken T cells, including a short list of mRNAs that are also targeted by miR-155 seed family miRNAs in EBV- or KSHV-transformed human B cells, and present an initial functional analysis of some of these miRNA targets.

Virus-encoded miR-155 ortholog is an important potential regulator but not essential for the development of lymphomas induced by very virulent Marek's disease virus

The microRNA (miRNA) mdv1-miR-M4, a functional miR-155 ortholog encoded by oncogenic Marek's disease virus (MDV), has previously been suggested to be involved in MDV pathogenesis. Using the technique of bacterial artificial chromosome mutagenesis, we have presently evaluated the potential role of mdv1-miR-M4 in the oncogenesis of the very virulent (vv) MDV strain GX0101. Unexpectedly, deletions of the Meq-cluster or mdv1-miR-M4 alone from the viral genome strongly decreased rather than abolished its oncogenicity. Compared to GX0101, mortalities of mutants GXΔmiR-M4 and GXΔMeq-miRs were reduced from 100% to 18% and 4%, coupled with the gross tumor incidence reduction from 28% to 22% and 8%, respectively. Our data suggests that the mdv1-miR-M4 is possibly an important regulator in the development of Marek's disease (MD) lymphomas but is not essential for the oncogenicity of vvMDV. In addition, some of the other Meq-clustered miRNAs may also play potentially critical roles in vvMDV induction of lymphomas.

The interplay between MDV and HVT affects viral miRNa expression

It is well established that herpesviruses encode numerous microRNAs (miRNAs) and that these virally encoded small RNAs play multiple roles in infection. The present study was undertaken to determine how co-infection of a pathogenic MDV serotype one (MDV1) strain (MD5) and a vaccine strain (herpesvirus of turkeys [HVT]) alters viral miRNA expression in vivo. We first used small RNA deep sequencing to identify MDV1-encoded miRNAs that are expressed in tumorigenic spleens of MDV1-infected birds. The expression patterns of these miRNAs were then further assessed at an early time point (7 days postinfection [dpi]) and a late time point (42 dpi) in birds with and without HVT vaccination using real-time PCR (RT-PCR). Additionally, the effect of MDV1 co-infection on HVT-encoded miRNAs was determined using RT-PCR. A diverse population of miRNAs was expressed in MDV-induced tumorigenic spleens at 42 dpi, with 18 of the 26 known mature miRNAs represented. Of these, both mdv1-miR-M4-5p and mdv1-miR-M2-3p were the most highly expressed miRNAs. RT-PCR analysis further revealed that nine MDV miRNAs were differentially expressed between 7 dpi and 42 dpi infected spleens. At 7 dpi, three miRNAs were differentially expressed between the spleens of birds co-infected with HVT and MD5 compared with birds singly infected with MD5, whereas at 42 dpi, nine miRNAs were differentially expressed. At 7 dpi, the expression of seven HVT-encoded miRNAs was affected in the spleens of co-infected birds compared with birds only receiving the HVT vaccine. At 42 dpi, six HVT-encoded miRNAs were differentially expressed between the two groups. Target prediction analysis suggests that these differentially expressed viral miRNAs are involved in regulating several cellular processes, including cell proliferation and the adaptive immune response.

The oncogenic microRNA OncomiR-21 overexpressed during Marek's disease lymphomagenesis is transactivated by the viral oncoprotein Meq

Gallid herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2) is an oncogenic herpesvirus that causes T lymphoma in chicken. GaHV-2 encodes a basic leucine zipper (bZIP) protein of the AP-1 family, Meq. Upon formation of homo- or heterodimers with c-Jun, Meq may modulate the expression of viral and cellular genes involved in lymphomagenesis. GaHV-2 also encodes viral microRNAs (miRNAs) involved in latency and apoptosis escape. However, little is known about cellular miRNA deregulation during the development of GaHV-2-associated lymphoma. We determined the cellular miRNA expression profiles of chickens infected with a very virulent strain (RB-1B) or a vaccine strain (CVI988) or noninfected. Among the most deregulated cellular miRNAs, we focused our efforts on gga-miR-21, which is upregulated during GaHV-2 infection. We mapped the gga-miR-21 promoter to the 10th intron of the TMEM49 gene and found it to be driven by AP-1- and Ets-responsive elements. We show here that the viral oncoprotein Meq binds to this promoter, thereby transactivating gga-miR-21 expression. We confirmed that this miRNA targets chicken programmed death cell 4 (PDCD4) and promotes tumor cell growth and apoptosis escape. Finally, gga-miR-21 was overexpressed only during infection with a very virulent strain (RB-1B) and not during infection with a nononcogenic strain (CVI988), providing further evidence for its role in GaHV-2 lymphomagenesis. Our data therefore suggest an additional role for Meq in GaHV-2-mediated lymphomagenesis through the induction of miR-21 expression.