Progress in Marek’s disease virus

Abstract:

Marek’s disease viruses (MDV) is a group of important herpesviruses, which can induce acute or sub-acute immunosuppressive and neoplastic disease in chickens, namely Marek’s disease (MD). Based on a brief overview of early studies on the classical and molecular virology of MDV, the progresses in the last decade are reviewed in different aspects, such as the application of the technique of infectious bacterial chromosome clone (BAC) to study viral gene functions, the studies on proteomics of MDV protein-coding genes, the regulatory functions of virus-encoded non-coding RNAs, and the recombinant MDV vaccines. Furthermore, the expected subjects or aspects for the further study on MDV are also discussed.