title: Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of Marek's disease virus from clinical cases of Marek's disease in Egypt.
abstract: In spite of the intensive vaccination policy against the Marek's disease virus (MDV) in Egypt, the Egyptian poultry flocks are still suffering from several tumor and paralysis cases. To investigate if MDV is the possible cause, feather follicle and tumor samples were collected during 2011 from 30 vaccinated chicken flocks experiencing nervous signs, emaciation, and tumor lesions. The samples were screened by PCR amplification of the meq full-length gene. Only five of 30 flocks were positive for MDV. Additionally, we sequenced meq from five samples and gL and gC from three samples. A phylogenetic tree was constructed using the deduced amino acid sequences of the meq gene. The sequence analysis revealed that most of the studied sequences showed > or = 98% identity to the very virulent European ATE and C12/130 isolates and the very virulent Chinese LMS, YA, WS03, and GX070060 MDV isolates. The two glycoproteins, gL and gC, displayed high similarity to the classical MDV strains published in the database regardless of their virulence.
authors.affiliation: ADepartment of Avian and Rabbit Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt, 445119. Olafalcon2001@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hassanin
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abdallah
authors.forename: Iman E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: El-Araby
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002645:Chickens; D004534:Egypt; D005241:Feathers / Q000821:virology; D008381:Herpesvirus 2, Gallid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008380:Marek Disease / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000821:virology; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; C100369:Eco-Q protein, Gallid herpesvirus 2; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C086097:glycoprotein C, Marek's disease virus; C089459:glycoprotein L, Marek's disease virus