Avian cells for improved virus production
AssigneeThe Pirbright Institute
InventorsMark Fife, Mark Gibson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present Invention provides as avian cell in which the expression or activity of one or more of the following genes, or a homologue thereof: Chicken IFITM 1 (SEQ ID No. 1); Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3) is reduced. The invention also provides methods for passaging viruses in avian cells, embryos and/or avian cell lines which have reduced expression of one or more IFITM genes and methods which involve investigating the sequence of one or more of the following genes, or a homologue thereof: Chicken IFITM1 (SEQ ID No. 1); Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3).
Claims28
An avian cell having reduced expression and/or activity of one or more of the following polypeptides or a homologue thereof:
- Chicken IFITM1 (SEQ ID No. 1);
- Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3).
A transgenic avian animal in which the expression and/or activity of one or more of the following polypeptides, or a homologue thereof:
- Chicken IFITM1 (SEQ ID No. 1);
- Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3) is reduced, knocked-down or knocked-out.
A transgenic avian animal whose germ, cells and somatic cells comprise a heterogenic version of one or more nucleotide sequences encoding for one of the following polypeptides, or a homologue thereof:
- Chicken IFITM1 (SEQ ID No. 1);
- Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3) which nucleotide sequence was introduced into said animal, or an ancestor of said animal, at an embryonic stage.
A transgenic avian animal in which the copy number of one or more gene(s) encoding the following polypeptides, or a homologue thereof:
- Chicken IFITM1 (SEQ ID No. 1);
- Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3) is increased.
A method for investigating the innate resistance of an avian animal to viral infection which comprises the step of investigating the nucleotide sequence encoding for one or more of the following polypeptides, or a homologue thereof:
- Chicken IFITM1 (SEQ ID No. 1);
- Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3) and/or investigating the copy number of the nucleotide sequence on the genome.
A method for selecting an avian animal having resistance to vital infection from a plurality of avian animals of the same species, which comprises the following steps:
- (i) investigating the nucleotide sequence encoding one or more of the following polypeptides, or a homologue thereof in the plurality of avian animals:
- Chicken IFITM1 (SEQ ID No. 1);
- Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3) and/or the copy number of the nucleotide sequence on the genome;
- (ii) selecting an avian animal having an IFITM1, IFITM2 and/or IFITM3 nucleotide sequence and/or copy number which is associated with resistance to viral infection.
A method for preventing or treating a viral infection in an avian animal which comprises the step of increasing the expression of one or more of the following polypeptides, or a homologue thereof:
- Chicken IFITM1 (SEQ ID No. 1);
- Chicken IFITM2 (SEQ ID No. 2) and Chicken IFITM3 (SEQ ID No. 3) in the animal.
An avian IFITM polypeptide which comprises the amino acid sequence SEQ ID No. 2 (Chicken IFITM2) or a variant or homolog thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.