Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026
Using Reverse Genetics to Manipulate the NSs Gene of the Rift Valley Fever Virus MP-12 Strain to Improve Vaccine Safety and Efficacy
Published on: November 1, 2011
Isolation of Marek's disease virus: revisited
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. kas24@cornell.edu
Abstract:
Splenocytes from chickens infected with low-passage stocks of Marek's disease virus (MDV) RB-1B, a very virulent (vv) strain and vv+ RK-1 were used to compare the efficacy of chick kidney cells (CKC), chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) and chicken embryo kidney cells (CEKC) for virus isolation. CKC were superior to CEF and CEKC. MDV foci were present at 4 days post infection in CKC but not until 6 days post infection in CEF or CEKC. Virus yield was higher in CKC than in CEF or CEKC at 6 days post infection. Passage of RB-1B in CKC yielded a significantly higher virus increase than with CEF or CEKC. The same was true for RK-1 comparing CKC with CEKC. Interestingly, RK-1-infected CEF were negative or had very low number of foci in passage 1, but virus yield increased 500-fold to 600-fold on passage in CKC, CEF, and CEKC. Recommendations on procedures for successful virus isolation are provided.
