Alphaherpesvirus recombination: safety implications for attenuated Herpesvirus vaccines. Under certain conditions some herpesviruses, including mild vaccine strains, can recombine to generate virulent viruses. Following findings that this occurred naturally between Australian poultry vaccines, with devastating results, this project will study natural herpesvirus recombination with the aim of allowing vaccines to be used more safely.
Alphaherpesvirus vaccination, recombination and latency; a study in the natural host. Attenuated alphaherpesvirus vaccines are used widely in production and companion animals to help control disease. These vaccines help to prevent clinical signs of disease following challenge with virulent viruses. There is also the potential to use these vaccines to help prevent latent herpesvirus infections, and to limit the opportunities for herpesvirus recombination to occur. This would enhance the ability t ....Alphaherpesvirus vaccination, recombination and latency; a study in the natural host. Attenuated alphaherpesvirus vaccines are used widely in production and companion animals to help control disease. These vaccines help to prevent clinical signs of disease following challenge with virulent viruses. There is also the potential to use these vaccines to help prevent latent herpesvirus infections, and to limit the opportunities for herpesvirus recombination to occur. This would enhance the ability to control disease in animal populations. This project aims to systematically study how vaccines may be used to limit latency and recombination events by studying avian infectious laryngotracheitis virus in the natural host leading to new insights into how vaccines may be used more efficaciously.Read moreRead less
Molecular approaches to limit herpesvirus recombination. This project aims to generate safer attenuated herpesvirus vaccines for use in veterinary medicine by genetically manipulating the herpesvirus genome to reduce virus recombination. Recombination is recognised as a safety concern for a range of attenuated herpesvirus vaccines. This project is expected to generate viruses that have an impaired capacity to recombine with other viruses. These viruses will then be tested as candidate vaccines f ....Molecular approaches to limit herpesvirus recombination. This project aims to generate safer attenuated herpesvirus vaccines for use in veterinary medicine by genetically manipulating the herpesvirus genome to reduce virus recombination. Recombination is recognised as a safety concern for a range of attenuated herpesvirus vaccines. This project is expected to generate viruses that have an impaired capacity to recombine with other viruses. These viruses will then be tested as candidate vaccines for use in veterinary medicine. This offers a new approach to developing safer veterinary vaccines that will benefit our important animal industries.Read moreRead less
Salmonella in poultry: improving vaccine efficacy . The central aim of this project is to increase the antigenicity of aroA mutant Salmonella Typhimurium vaccines, in particular Bioproperties’ Vaxsafe® ST. Increased antigenicity will affect the gut microbiota and stimulate a stronger host immune response improving vaccine efficacy and the duration of protection against S. Typhimurium in poultry. This will ultimately reduce bacterial loads in the farm environment, mitigate downstream contaminatio ....Salmonella in poultry: improving vaccine efficacy . The central aim of this project is to increase the antigenicity of aroA mutant Salmonella Typhimurium vaccines, in particular Bioproperties’ Vaxsafe® ST. Increased antigenicity will affect the gut microbiota and stimulate a stronger host immune response improving vaccine efficacy and the duration of protection against S. Typhimurium in poultry. This will ultimately reduce bacterial loads in the farm environment, mitigate downstream contamination of the food supply chain, and reduce the number of human salmonellosis cases.Read moreRead less
Virulence determinants influencing re-emergence of a complex RNA virus. This project intends to examine the effects that specific genes in naturally occurring recombinants have on their capacity to cause disease and spread between chickens. Coronaviruses are major pathogens of domestic animals throughout the world. Recurrent re-emergence of the coronavirus of chickens, infectious bronchitis virus, has been associated with recombination between wild type viruses and vaccine viruses, but the facto ....Virulence determinants influencing re-emergence of a complex RNA virus. This project intends to examine the effects that specific genes in naturally occurring recombinants have on their capacity to cause disease and spread between chickens. Coronaviruses are major pathogens of domestic animals throughout the world. Recurrent re-emergence of the coronavirus of chickens, infectious bronchitis virus, has been associated with recombination between wild type viruses and vaccine viruses, but the factors influencing this, and in particular the selective advantages genes from vaccine viruses confer on these recombinants, are unknown. The ultimate aim of the project is to identify both novel vaccines and alternative management strategies that might reduce the frequency of re-emergence of this virus and other coronaviruses.Read moreRead less
Linking immunomodulation and latency in alphaherpesvirus infection. Herpesviruses cause major diseases in humans and all domestic animal species. Latency forms a significant part of the evolutionary success of herpesviruses, by enabling transmission of the virus throughout the lifetime of the host. Our work has shown that an alphaherpesvirus protein can divert the host’s immune response to become more antibody-mediated and less T cell-mediated. This study explores the consequences of this immune ....Linking immunomodulation and latency in alphaherpesvirus infection. Herpesviruses cause major diseases in humans and all domestic animal species. Latency forms a significant part of the evolutionary success of herpesviruses, by enabling transmission of the virus throughout the lifetime of the host. Our work has shown that an alphaherpesvirus protein can divert the host’s immune response to become more antibody-mediated and less T cell-mediated. This study explores the consequences of this immune diversion, and examines whether this reduced T cell response enables the development of latent infections. Disrupting the virus-host balance by alterations to this conserved viral protein will enable novel approaches to controlling these economically significant viruses.Read moreRead less
Imperfect vaccination drives herpesvirus evolution through recombination. Vaccines are used to help control disease caused by herpesviruses in animals, but some vaccination programs may drive the evolution and spread of herpesviruses with increased fitness (transmissibility, replication and virulence) through recombination. This project aims to study an important avian herpesvirus (infectious laryngotracheitis virus) in the natural host (poultry) to gain fundamental knowledge of how vaccination ....Imperfect vaccination drives herpesvirus evolution through recombination. Vaccines are used to help control disease caused by herpesviruses in animals, but some vaccination programs may drive the evolution and spread of herpesviruses with increased fitness (transmissibility, replication and virulence) through recombination. This project aims to study an important avian herpesvirus (infectious laryngotracheitis virus) in the natural host (poultry) to gain fundamental knowledge of how vaccination programs influence the emergence of diverse recombinant viruses, and identify which types of vaccination programs are best at preventing the emergence of fitter and more virulent viruses. The results are expected to inform vaccination practices to allow more effective control of these viruses in poultry and other animals.Read moreRead less
Functional identification of vaccine targets in pathogenic mycoplasmas. Mycoplasmas are important bacterial pathogens in domestic animals that are incompletely controlled by current vaccines. As a result current control measures for the diseases they cause rely on ongoing treatment with antibiotics. This project will aim to use functional genomics and metabolomics to determine the function of specific surface proteins of a model mycoplasma to identify targets for novel approaches to vaccines aga ....Functional identification of vaccine targets in pathogenic mycoplasmas. Mycoplasmas are important bacterial pathogens in domestic animals that are incompletely controlled by current vaccines. As a result current control measures for the diseases they cause rely on ongoing treatment with antibiotics. This project will aim to use functional genomics and metabolomics to determine the function of specific surface proteins of a model mycoplasma to identify targets for novel approaches to vaccines against these pathogens, and to then assess the potential for inclusion of these proteins in vaccines. Ultimately this will lead to improved vaccines against these important pathogens, improving agricultural productivity and reducing the use of antibiotics in intensively raised livestock.Read moreRead less
Optimising the efficacy of mycoplasma vaccines in the field. Optimising the efficacy of mycoplasma vaccines in the field. This project intends to examine the effect of antibiotic treatment, killed vaccines and immunosuppressive viruses on the protective immunity induced by a model novel vaccine against the important poultry pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum. The continued circulation of pathogenic mycoplasmas in intensively managed animals is a major animal health problem. Live attenuated vaccin ....Optimising the efficacy of mycoplasma vaccines in the field. Optimising the efficacy of mycoplasma vaccines in the field. This project intends to examine the effect of antibiotic treatment, killed vaccines and immunosuppressive viruses on the protective immunity induced by a model novel vaccine against the important poultry pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum. The continued circulation of pathogenic mycoplasmas in intensively managed animals is a major animal health problem. Live attenuated vaccines could reduce disease, but we have limited understanding of the best conditions for their use. This project will generate data to guide both use and development of live mycoplasma vaccines. It is expected to have significant impacts on animal health, welfare and production, and public health by reducing the use of antibiotics to control mycoplasmoses.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100735
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,204.00
Summary
Understanding infectious laryngotracheitis virus recombination. This project will study the factors that lead to recombination between strains of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) concomitant with increased virulence. In previous studies of ILTV, two new genotypes of virulent field strains were shown to be independent recombinants derived from distinct attenuated ILTV commercial vaccines. These strains became the dominant field viruses responsible for widespread and severe disease outbre ....Understanding infectious laryngotracheitis virus recombination. This project will study the factors that lead to recombination between strains of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) concomitant with increased virulence. In previous studies of ILTV, two new genotypes of virulent field strains were shown to be independent recombinants derived from distinct attenuated ILTV commercial vaccines. These strains became the dominant field viruses responsible for widespread and severe disease outbreaks in Australian poultry flocks. This project will enhance understanding of the conditions that led to these deleterious natural recombination events and enable the industry to avoid the emergence of new virulent field strains in the future. Read moreRead less