Characterization of a novel reporter system for beak and feather disease virus

Beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) belongs to the Circoviridae family, which has a relatively simple repli-cation mechanism. As BFDV lacks a mature cell culture system, a novel mini-replicon system based on the re-porter plasmid that contains the origin of replication, which can bind to the Rep protein expressed from another plasmid and thus trigger its replication and induce/increase luminescence was developed. The dual-luciferase assay was used in this system to measure replicative efficiency by comparing relative light units (RLU) of firefly luciferase. Linear relationships between the luciferase activity of the reporter plasmids with the BFDV origin of replication and the amounts of the Rep protein and vice versa were found, suggesting the mini-replicon system can be used to quantify viral replication. Moreover, the activities of reporter plasmids driven by mutated Rep proteins or the activities of reporter plasmids with mutations were significantly downregulated. The Rep and Cap promoter activities can be characterized using this luciferase reporter system. Notably, the RLU of the re-porter plasmid was considerably inhibited in the presence of sodium orthovanadate (Na3VO4). When BFDV-infected birds were treated with Na3VO4, the viral loads of BFDV rapidly decreased. In conclusion, this mini-replicon reporter gene-based system provides a practical means to screen for anti-viral drug candidates.

Automated summary

This study developed a novel mini-replicon system based on BFDV for measuring viral replication efficiency. The system quantified replicative efficiency by comparing relative light units (RLU) of firefly luciferase. This system can be used to screen for anti-viral drug candidates.