Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek's disease virus

Steven R Fiddaman^#¹, Evangelos A Dimopoulos^#^{2

3}, Ophélie Lebrasseur^{4

5}, Louis du Plessis^{6

7}, Bram Vrancken^{8

9}, Sophy Charlton^{2

10}, Ashleigh F Haruda², Kristina Tabbada², Patrik G Flammer¹, Stefan Dascalu¹, Nemanja Marković¹¹, Hannah Li¹², Gabrielle Franklin¹³, Robert Symmons¹⁴, Henriette Baron¹⁵, László Daróczi-Szabó¹⁶, Dilyara N Shaymuratova¹⁷, Igor V Askeyev¹⁷, Olivier Putelat¹⁸, Maria Sana¹⁹, Hossein Davoudi²⁰, Homa Fathi²⁰, Amir Saed Mucheshi²¹, Ali Akbar Vahdati²², Liangren Zhang²³, Alison Foster²⁴, Naomi Sykes²⁵, Gabrielle Cass Baumberg², Jelena Bulatović²⁶, Arthur O Askeyev¹⁷, Oleg V Askeyev¹⁷, Marjan Mashkour^{20

27}, Oliver G Pybus^{1

28}, Venugopal Nair^{1

29}, Greger Larson^#², Adrian L Smith^#¹, Laurent A F Frantz^#^{30

31}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
² The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁴ Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, CNRS/Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
⁵ Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁶ Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland.
⁷ Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁸ Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁹ Spatial Epidemiology Lab (SpELL), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
¹⁰ BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK.
¹¹ Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹² Institute of Immunity and Transplantation, University College London, London, UK.
¹³ Silkie Club of Great Britain, Charing, UK.
¹⁴ Fishbourne Roman Palace, Fishbourne, UK.
¹⁵ Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie, Mainz, Germany.
¹⁶ Medieval Department, Budapest History Museum, Budapest, Hungary.
¹⁷ Laboratory of Biomonitoring, The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia.
¹⁸ Archéologie Alsace-PAIR, Sélestat, Bas-Rhin, France.
¹⁹ Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
²⁰ Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Central Laboratory, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
²¹ Department of Art and Architecture, Payame Noor University (PNU), Tehran, Iran.
²² Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, North Khorasan Office, Iran.
²³ Department of Archaeology, School of History, Nanjing University, China.
²⁴ Headland Archaeology, Edinburgh, UK.
²⁵ Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
²⁶ Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
²⁷ CNRS, National Museum Natural History Paris, Paris, France.
²⁸ Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK.
²⁹ Viral Oncogenesis Group, Pirbright Institute, Woking, UK.
³⁰ Palaeogenomics Group, Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munich, Germany.
³¹ School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38096384
DOI: 10.1126/science.adg2238

Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek's disease virus

Steven R Fiddaman et al. Science. 2023.

. 2023 Dec 15;382(6676):1276-1281.

doi: 10.1126/science.adg2238. Epub 2023 Dec 14.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
² The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁴ Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, CNRS/Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
⁵ Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁶ Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland.
⁷ Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁸ Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁹ Spatial Epidemiology Lab (SpELL), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
¹⁰ BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK.
¹¹ Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹² Institute of Immunity and Transplantation, University College London, London, UK.
¹³ Silkie Club of Great Britain, Charing, UK.
¹⁴ Fishbourne Roman Palace, Fishbourne, UK.
¹⁵ Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie, Mainz, Germany.
¹⁶ Medieval Department, Budapest History Museum, Budapest, Hungary.
¹⁷ Laboratory of Biomonitoring, The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia.
¹⁸ Archéologie Alsace-PAIR, Sélestat, Bas-Rhin, France.
¹⁹ Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
²⁰ Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Central Laboratory, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
²¹ Department of Art and Architecture, Payame Noor University (PNU), Tehran, Iran.
²² Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, North Khorasan Office, Iran.
²³ Department of Archaeology, School of History, Nanjing University, China.
²⁴ Headland Archaeology, Edinburgh, UK.
²⁵ Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
²⁶ Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
²⁷ CNRS, National Museum Natural History Paris, Paris, France.
²⁸ Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK.
²⁹ Viral Oncogenesis Group, Pirbright Institute, Woking, UK.
³⁰ Palaeogenomics Group, Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munich, Germany.
³¹ School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38096384
DOI: 10.1126/science.adg2238

Abstract

The pronounced growth in livestock populations since the 1950s has altered the epidemiological and evolutionary trajectory of their associated pathogens. For example, Marek's disease virus (MDV), which causes lymphoid tumors in chickens, has experienced a marked increase in virulence over the past century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds, and controlling it costs more than US$1 billion annually. By sequencing MDV genomes derived from archeological chickens, we demonstrate that it has been circulating for at least 1000 years. We functionally tested the Meq oncogene, one of 49 viral genes positively selected in modern strains, demonstrating that ancient MDV was likely incapable of driving tumor formation. Our results demonstrate the power of ancient DNA approaches to trace the molecular basis of virulence in economically relevant pathogens.

PubMed Disclaimer

MeSH terms

Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- Atypon
- Ovid Technologies, Inc.
Miscellaneous
- NCI CPTAC Assay Portal

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek's disease virus

Affiliations

Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek's disease virus

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous