The telomerase RNA encoded by Marek's disease virus promotes tumor formation in chickens.
Marek's disease virus (MDV)–a tumor-causing herpesvirus of chickens–costs the poultry industry an estimated $1 billion annually. Although vaccines against MDV exist, the crowded living conditions of commercially raised chickens have fostered the evolution of nastier, vaccine-resistant virus strains.
The design of better vaccines, however, requires a better understanding of how the virus triggers tumors. Transformation is driven in part by the viral protein Meq, a Jun/Fos-like oncoprotein. The virus also encodes its own TR (vTR)–most likely pirated from the chicken genome.
TR is part of the telomerase enzyme that adds protective ends–telomeres–onto chromosomes. Telomerase...
