Construction and characterization of the infectious clone of Reticuloendotheliosis virus carrying a genetic marker

Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) causes an immunosuppressive and oncogenic disease, which posed substantial threats to the commercial poultry industry. However, researches on the molecular epidemiology and the pathogenic mechanism of REV are still scant. In this study, a full-length genome cDNA of Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) strain HLJR0901, which was isolated from layer in China, was cloned, sequenced, and analyzed. The genome of HLJR0901 was 8284 bp long, and the GenBank accession number is GQ415646. Sequence analysis showed that HLJR0901 was more similar to some REV strains that are common in the USA and Taiwan than to the early Chinese REV isolate. Next, the first efficient and genetically stable infectious clone with the genetic markers of the layer strain of REV was developed. The rescued and parental viruses had similar biological characteristics in vitro and in vivo. This study not only contributes to novel molecular epidemiology data, but also facilitates researching the gene functions and evolution of REV.