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.
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
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
Structural and functional investigations into a novel chemokine binding protein encoded by evolutionarily diverse alphaherpesviruses. The outcomes of this project will help control disease caused by alphaherpesviruses, including disease in livestock (horses and poultry) and wildlife (kangaroos and wallabies). This will enhance animal health and welfare and will also benefit the associated industries. Livestock industries are critically important to the Australian economy (equine and poultry indu ....Structural and functional investigations into a novel chemokine binding protein encoded by evolutionarily diverse alphaherpesviruses. The outcomes of this project will help control disease caused by alphaherpesviruses, including disease in livestock (horses and poultry) and wildlife (kangaroos and wallabies). This will enhance animal health and welfare and will also benefit the associated industries. Livestock industries are critically important to the Australian economy (equine and poultry industries annually contribute approximately $7.7 and $2.6 billion respectively to our GDP). Wildlife species are crucial to Australian ecosystems and feature in the Australian tourism industry. This project is expected to strengthen international research collaborations and further enhance Australia's reputation as a world-class leader in research and biotechnology.Read moreRead less
Avoiding the immune response: lessons from 'simple' bacteria. Some of the most important bacterial diseases of domestic animals are caused by mycoplasmas. Improved control of these diseases would significantly improve agricultural productivity by reducing losses associated with reduced feed conversion efficiency and increased susceptibility to other diseases, as well as improve animal welfare and public health, by reducing the need for antibiotic therapy to control these diseases in food produci ....Avoiding the immune response: lessons from 'simple' bacteria. Some of the most important bacterial diseases of domestic animals are caused by mycoplasmas. Improved control of these diseases would significantly improve agricultural productivity by reducing losses associated with reduced feed conversion efficiency and increased susceptibility to other diseases, as well as improve animal welfare and public health, by reducing the need for antibiotic therapy to control these diseases in food producing animals.Read moreRead less
The Role of High-Frequency Antigenic Variation in The Pathogenesis of Mycoplasma infection. The main goal of the proposed project is to understand the molecular mechanisms of phase/antigenic variation and its effects on mycoplasma pathogenesis. In this context I will use the well-characterised Mycoplasma synoviae haemagglutinin, MSPA, to establish the role of its phase-variable expression in the type and extent of M. synoviae disease. Additionally, the relationship between MSPA phase variation a ....The Role of High-Frequency Antigenic Variation in The Pathogenesis of Mycoplasma infection. The main goal of the proposed project is to understand the molecular mechanisms of phase/antigenic variation and its effects on mycoplasma pathogenesis. In this context I will use the well-characterised Mycoplasma synoviae haemagglutinin, MSPA, to establish the role of its phase-variable expression in the type and extent of M. synoviae disease. Additionally, the relationship between MSPA phase variation and gene rearrangements in the MSPB-encoding gene will be elucidated. The results will contribute to our understanding of the pathogenesis of bacterial disease and of the evolution of pathogenic mechanisms in bacterial pathogens.Read moreRead less
Blocking immune responses: a critical factor in herpesvirus virulence? The horse and poultry industries are two large, primarily rural based livestock production industries that are major contributors to the national economy. The research proposed in this project will improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of two important viral pathogens that are each a significant cost to their respective industry, and thus will ultimately reduce the cost of these two viruses to industry. In addition, ....Blocking immune responses: a critical factor in herpesvirus virulence? The horse and poultry industries are two large, primarily rural based livestock production industries that are major contributors to the national economy. The research proposed in this project will improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of two important viral pathogens that are each a significant cost to their respective industry, and thus will ultimately reduce the cost of these two viruses to industry. In addition, the technology developed during this project would have a global market and may be transferable to other viral pathogens of other domestic species.Read moreRead less