'reverse genetics for the production of antigenic and pathotypic variants of the coronavirus infectious bronchitis'

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Project objective

Research objectives and content Infectious bronchitis virus is one of the most significant pathogens in the poultry industry and in spite of the use of vaccines, diseases caused by variant IBV strains continue to result in tremendous economic losses throughout the world. The objectives of the project are to use reverse genetics to produce antigenic and pathotypic variants of IBV to investigate the gene(s) involved in protective immunity and virulence. The ultimate aim is the ability to produce genetically modified vaccine strains capable of inducing immunological responses to protect against pathogenic variant IBVs. Reverse genetics, the ability to copy RNA genomes into DNA copies for manipulation and to regenerate infectious RNA genomes, has been a major breakthrough for the modification of RNA virus genomes to investigate gene(s) involved in virulence and immunogenicity. The size of the coronavirus genome (approx. 30 kb) has to date proved a major block on the development of a complete infectious copy. However, the observation that the coronavirus polymerase is able to generate recombinant RNAs and the isolation of replicating defective RNAs (D-RNAs) has allowed the production of recombinant viruses utilising DNA copies of the D-RNAs and targeted recombination using the modified DRNAs. Therefore the manipulation of D-RNAs and targeted recombination will be used to produce recombinant IBVs to investigate the gene(s) involved in virulence and immunogenicity. Training content (objective, benefit and expected impact) The project will provide training in the use reverse genetics to modify the IBV genome. This will involve the use of tissue culture and techniques in both molecular virology and biology. The benefit gained will be the use of reverse genetics to manipulate RNA viruses and the knowledge gained in understanding the role of genes(s) in the virulence of IBV. The expected impact will be the production of recombinant IBVs to understand the role of various genes in pathogenesis and immunogenicity with the ultimate aim of producing safe and effective vaccines for the poultry industry. Links with industry / industrial relevance (22) This proposal has industrial relevance. The Compton group have a related Framework IV Biotechnology (Transdisease Vaccinology) project (number PL960064) which involves a Spanish pharmaceutical company (Laboratarios Sabrino, Gerona) who will advise on the exploitation of results.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• INSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL HEALTH · NEWBURYCoordinatorCity levelUnited Kingdom
• Not availableCity levelSpain

Links

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