Transcriptional Profiling of Meq-dependent Genes in Marek’s Disease Resistant and Susceptible Inbred Chicken Lines

Marek’s disease (MD) is an economically significant disease in chickens caused by the highly oncogenic Marek’s disease virus (MDV). Understanding the genes and biological pathways that confer MD genetic resistance should lead towards the development of more disease resistant commercial poultry flocks or improved MD vaccines. MDV Meq, a bZIP transcription factor, is largely attributed for viral oncogenicity though only a few host target genes have been described, which has impeded our understanding of MDV-induced tumorigenesis. Given the importance of Meq in MDV-induced pathogenesis, we explored the role of Meq in genetic resistance to MDV. Using global transcriptome analysis to compare the host response between birds challenge with either wild type MDV or a recombinant lacking Meq, we identified a number of specific genes and pathways associated with either MD resistance. Integrating prior information from ChIP-seq, microarray analysis, and SNPs exhibiting allele-specific expression (ASE) in response to MDV infection from two inbred layer lines that differ greatly in MD genetic resistance, we were able to provide a evidence for 35 genes that SNPs within transcription factor binding sites can affect transcription factor binding and gene expression in an allele-specific manner. Overall design: Transcript profiling of CEF's (a chicken embryo fibroblast cell line) from MD susceptible and resistant lines using Affymetrix chicken GeneChips