Molecular biology and pathogenesis of fowl adenoviruses

禽腺病毒（FAdVs）属于腺病毒科，与家禽包涵体肝炎（IBH）等疾病有关。然而，一些FAdVs不具有致病性，因此它们作为疫苗开发的病毒载体很有吸引力。为此目的，对这些病毒进行遗传操作的目的是选择性地去除其遗传物质的一些“必要”区域，我已经确定了这些区域，然后用来自任何其他禽类（或其他）病原体的外来基因代替它们。然而，FAdV基因组中“可有可无”区域在感染的自然过程中可能发挥的作用以及对疾病的可能影响仍未得到很好的理解。在人类腺病毒中，它们的许多“可有可无的基因”在调节宿主的抗病毒防御中非常重要。本研究旨在鉴定FAdV左端缺失区域的独特基因，并确定其功能，重点研究其发病机制。

Fowl adenoviruses (FAdVs) are in the family Adenoviridae, and are implicated in diseases of poultry such as inclusion body hepatitis (IBH). However, some FAdVs are not pathogenic and therefore they are attractive as viral vectors for vaccine development. For this purpose, genetic manipulation of these viruses is directed towards the selective removal of some "dispensable" regions of their genetic material, which I have already identified, followed by their replacement with foreign genes originating from any other avian (or other) pathogens. However the possible roles of the "dispensable" regions of FAdV genomes in the natural course of infection and the probable implications in disease are still not well understood. In human adenovirus many of their "dispensable genes" are very important in modulating the host's antiviral defense. This proposal is aimed to identify the FAdV unique genes in the dispensable region at the left end and to determine their function(s) with an emphasis on pathogenesis.