A simple rapid colorimetric reaction based post PCR analysis of Marek's disease virus in chicken

Marek's disease is an oncogenic virus that produces malignant lymphomas in chickens. Rapid easy detection of Marek's disease is of great importance for early diagnosis and control of the disease. In this study, identification of Marek's disease virus serotype 1 was done by using a colorimetric integrated polymerase chain reaction with Meq gene. The forward primer of the Meq gene which is specific to MDV serotype 1 was integrated with HRPzyme sequence (916 bp) and amplified during the PCR. The PCR product including HRPzyme produced the distinguished blue colour with chromogenic substrates which was visualized by the naked eye. From these observations, simple, rapid colorimetric PCR assay of Marek's disease virus was performed without using agarose gel electrophoresis.