Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
Vet Microbiol. 2011 May 12;150(1-2):1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2011.01.002. Epub 2011 Jan 11.
The equine herpesviruses are major infectious pathogens that threaten equine health. Equine herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4) is an important equine pathogen that causes respiratory tract disease, known as rhinopneumonitis, among horses worldwide. EHV-4 genome manipulation with subsequent understanding of the viral gene functions has always been difficult due to the limited number of susceptible cell lines and the absence of small-animal models of the infection. Efficient generation of mutants of EHV-4 would significantly contribute to the rapid and accurate characterization of the viral genes. This problem has been solved recently by the cloning of the genome of EHV-4 as a stable and infectious bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) without any deletions of the viral genes. Very low copy BAC vectors are the mainstay of present genomic research because of the high stability of inserted clones and the possibility of mutating any gene target in a relatively short time. Manipulation of EHV-4 genome is now feasible using the power of BAC technology, and should aid greatly in assessing the role of viral genes in the virus-host interaction.
马疱疹病毒是威胁马健康的主要传染病病原体。马疱疹病毒 4 型（EHV-4）是一种重要的马病原体，可引起全球马匹的呼吸道疾病，称为鼻炎肺炎。由于易感细胞系数量有限且缺乏感染的小型动物模型，因此对 EHV-4 基因组进行操作以及随后了解病毒基因功能一直很困难。EHV-4 突变体的高效产生将极大地促进对病毒基因的快速准确表征。最近，通过克隆 EHV-4 基因组作为稳定且具有感染性的细菌人工染色体 (BAC)，而没有任何病毒基因缺失，解决了这个问题。由于插入克隆的高稳定性和在相对较短的时间内突变任何基因靶标的可能性，低拷贝数 BAC 载体是目前基因组研究的基础。现在可以使用 BAC 技术的功能来操作 EHV-4 基因组，这应该极大地有助于评估病毒基因在病毒-宿主相互作用中的作用。
