title: Marek's disease in turkeys. II. Characterization of the viral glycoprotein B gene and antigen of a turkey strain of Marek's disease virus.
abstract: Marek's disease virus (MDV) causes immunosuppression and tumors in chickens. As sporadic cases of Marek's disease (MD) were recorded in turkeys, the antigenic and genomic characteristics of the MDV glycoprotein B (gB) gene and antigen of turkeys were compared to the chicken MDV gB. The whole chicken and turkey gB genes were sequenced and found identical. By immunoblotting of infected-cell culture lysates using chicken convalescent and gB monoclonal antibodies, the antigenic epitopes of the chicken and turkey viruses were found to differ. The turkey MDV had a unique epitope, compared to the chicken MDV and compared with our previous findings. While the chicken MDV had two epitope types, heat-labile but dithiothreitol (DTT)-stable and heat-stable but DTT-labile, the turkey MDV gB epitope is both heat and DTT-labile.
authors.affiliation: Division of Avian and Fish Diseases, Kimron Veterinary Institute, Bet Dagan, Israel.
authors.forename: Irit
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malkinson
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Weisman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D002645:Chickens; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry; D000939:Epitopes / Q000032:analysis; D005784:Gene Amplification; D008381:Herpesvirus 2, Gallid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D008380:Marek Disease / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary; D014422:Turkeys; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C072811:glycoprotein B, Marek's disease virus