title: Myxoma virus M130R is a novel virulence factor required for lethal myxomatosis in rabbits.
abstract: Myxoma virus (MV) is a highly lethal, rabbit-specific poxvirus that induces a disease called myxomatosis in European rabbits. In an effort to understand the function of predicted immunomodulatory genes we have deleted various viral genes from MV and tested the ability of these knockout viruses to induce lethal myxomatosis. MV encodes a unique 15 kD cytoplasmic protein (M130R) that is expressed late (12h post infection) during infection. M130R is a non-essential gene for MV replication in rabbit, monkey or human cell lines. Construction of a targeted gene knockout virus (vMyx130KO) and infection of susceptible rabbits demonstrate that the M130R knockout virus is attenuated and that loss of M130R expression allows the rabbit host immune system to effectively respond to and control the lethal effects of MV. M130R expression is a bona fide poxviral virulence factor necessary for full and lethal development of myxomatosis.
authors.affiliation: Biotherapeutics Research Group, Robarts Research Institute and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5K8, Canada.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Werden
authors.forename: Fuan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: McKillop
authors.forename: June
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Villeneuve
authors.forename: Grant
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McFadden
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dekaban
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D017353:Gene Deletion; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D023061:Gene Order; D000882:Haplorhini; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009233:Myxoma virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011817:Rabbits; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors