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Updated: May 24, 2026

An Ex Vivo Chicken Primary Bursal-cell Culture Model to Study Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Pathogenesis
Published on: October 4, 2018
A simple and efficient method to rescue very virulent infectious bursal disease virus using SPF chickens
1Division of Avian Infectious Diseases, States Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 427 Maduan Street, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Reverse genetic systems for efficient generation of very virulent infectious bursal disease virus (vvIBDV) are currently limited. In this study, we have developed a simple and efficient way to rescue vvIBDV using SPF chickens. The genome of a vvIBDV strain, HLJ0504, flanked by hammerhead and hepatitis delta ribozyme sequences, was cloned downstream of the cytomegalovirus enhancer and the chicken beta-actin promoter of the vector pCAGGS. After transfection of DF-1 cells, cell suspensions were injected into the bursa organ of three-week-old SPF chickens. Using this system, vvIBDV was recovered at high titers after one passage, and the rescued vvIBDV remained highly lethal to SPF chickens. This simple and efficient method to rescue vvIBDV will be a valuable tool for better understanding the molecular virulence determinants of vvIBDV.

