Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek’s 2 disease virus

Steven Fiddaman; Evangelos Dimopoulos; Ophélie Lebrasseur; Louis du Plessis; Bram Vrancken; Sophy Jessica Laura Charlton; Ashleigh Haruda; Kristina Tabbada; Patrik Flammer; Stefan Dascalu; Nemanja  Marković; Hannah Li; Gabrielle Franklin; Robert Symmons; Henriette Baron; László  Daróczi-Szabó; Dilyara Shaymuratova; Igor Askeyev; Olivier Putelat; Maria Sana; Hossein Davoudi; Homa Fathi; Amir Saed Mucheshi; Ali Akbar Vahdati; Liangren Zhang; Alison Foster; Naomi Sykes; Gabrielle Baumberg; Jelena Bulatović; Arthur Askeyev; Oleg Askeyev; Marjan Mashkour; Oliver Pybus; Venugopal Nair; Greger Larson; Adrian Smith; Laurent Frantz

doi:10.1126/science.adg2238

Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek’s 2 disease virus

Steven Fiddaman, Evangelos Dimopoulos, Ophélie Lebrasseur, Louis du Plessis, Bram Vrancken, Sophy Jessica Laura Charlton, Ashleigh Haruda, Kristina Tabbada, Patrik Flammer, Stefan Dascalu, Nemanja Marković, Hannah Li, Gabrielle Franklin, Robert Symmons, Henriette Baron, László Daróczi-Szabó, Dilyara Shaymuratova, Igor Askeyev, Olivier Putelat, Maria SanaHossein Davoudi, Homa Fathi, Amir Saed Mucheshi, Ali Akbar Vahdati, Liangren Zhang, Alison Foster, Naomi Sykes, Gabrielle Baumberg, Jelena Bulatović, Arthur Askeyev, Oleg Askeyev, Marjan Mashkour, Oliver Pybus, Venugopal Nair, Greger Larson, Adrian Smith, Laurent Frantz

Archaeology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The dramatic 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 last century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds and controlling it costs >US$1bn 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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1276-1281
Journal	Science
Volume	382
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg2238
Publication status	Published - 14 Dec 2023

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Cite this

Fiddaman, S., Dimopoulos, E., Lebrasseur, O., du Plessis, L., Vrancken, B., Charlton, S. J. L., Haruda, A., Tabbada, K., Flammer, P., Dascalu, S., Marković, N., Li, H., Franklin, G., Symmons, R., Baron, H., Daróczi-Szabó, L., Shaymuratova, D., Askeyev, I., Putelat, O., ... Frantz, L. (2023). Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek’s 2 disease virus. Science, 382, 1276-1281. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg2238

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title = "Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek{\textquoteright}s 2 disease virus",

abstract = "The dramatic growth in livestock populations since the 1950s has altered the epidemiological and evolutionary trajectory of their associated pathogens. For example, Marek{\textquoteright}s disease virus (MDV), which causes lymphoid tumors in chickens, has experienced a marked increase in virulence over the last century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds and controlling it costs >US$1bn 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.",

author = "Steven Fiddaman and Evangelos Dimopoulos and Oph{\'e}lie Lebrasseur and {du Plessis}, Louis and Bram Vrancken and Charlton, {Sophy Jessica Laura} and Ashleigh Haruda and Kristina Tabbada and Patrik Flammer and Stefan Dascalu and Nemanja Markovi{\'c} and Hannah Li and Gabrielle Franklin and Robert Symmons and Henriette Baron and L{\'a}szl{\'o} Dar{\'o}czi-Szab{\'o} and Dilyara Shaymuratova and Igor Askeyev and Olivier Putelat and Maria Sana and Hossein Davoudi and Homa Fathi and {Saed Mucheshi}, Amir and {Akbar Vahdati}, Ali and Liangren Zhang and Alison Foster and Naomi Sykes and Gabrielle Baumberg and Jelena Bulatovi{\'c} and Arthur Askeyev and Oleg Askeyev and Marjan Mashkour and Oliver Pybus and Venugopal Nair and Greger Larson and Adrian Smith and Laurent Frantz",

year = "2023",

month = dec,

day = "14",

doi = "10.1126/science.adg2238",

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Fiddaman, S, Dimopoulos, E, Lebrasseur, O, du Plessis, L, Vrancken, B, Charlton, SJL, Haruda, A, Tabbada, K, Flammer, P, Dascalu, S, Marković, N, Li, H, Franklin, G, Symmons, R, Baron, H, Daróczi-Szabó, L, Shaymuratova, D, Askeyev, I, Putelat, O, Sana, M, Davoudi, H, Fathi, H, Saed Mucheshi, A, Akbar Vahdati, A, Zhang, L, Foster, A, Sykes, N, Baumberg, G, Bulatović, J, Askeyev, A, Askeyev, O, Mashkour, M, Pybus, O, Nair, V, Larson, G, Smith, A & Frantz, L 2023, 'Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek’s 2 disease virus', Science, vol. 382, pp. 1276-1281. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg2238

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AU - Fiddaman, Steven

AU - Dimopoulos, Evangelos

AU - Lebrasseur, Ophélie

AU - du Plessis, Louis

AU - Vrancken, Bram

AU - Charlton, Sophy Jessica Laura

AU - Haruda, Ashleigh

AU - Tabbada, Kristina

AU - Flammer, Patrik

AU - Dascalu, Stefan

AU - Marković, Nemanja

AU - Li, Hannah

AU - Franklin, Gabrielle

AU - Symmons, Robert

AU - Baron, Henriette

AU - Daróczi-Szabó, László

AU - Shaymuratova, Dilyara

AU - Askeyev, Igor

AU - Putelat, Olivier

AU - Sana, Maria

AU - Davoudi, Hossein

AU - Fathi, Homa

AU - Saed Mucheshi, Amir

AU - Akbar Vahdati, Ali

AU - Zhang, Liangren

AU - Foster, Alison

AU - Sykes, Naomi

AU - Baumberg, Gabrielle

AU - Bulatović, Jelena

AU - Askeyev, Arthur

AU - Askeyev, Oleg

AU - Mashkour, Marjan

AU - Pybus, Oliver

AU - Nair, Venugopal

AU - Larson, Greger

AU - Smith, Adrian

AU - Frantz, Laurent

PY - 2023/12/14

Y1 - 2023/12/14

N2 - The dramatic 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 last century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds and controlling it costs >US$1bn 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.

AB - The dramatic 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 last century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds and controlling it costs >US$1bn 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.

U2 - 10.1126/science.adg2238

DO - 10.1126/science.adg2238

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 382

SP - 1276

EP - 1281

JO - Science

JF - Science

ER -