Genome-Wide Gene Expression Analysis Identifies the Proto-oncogene Tyrosine-Protein Kinase Src as a Crucial Virulence Determinant of Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus in Chicken Cells

Li, Hai; Wang, Fengjie; Han, Zongxi; Gao, Qi; Li, Huixin; Shao, Yuhao; Sun, Nana; Liu, Shengwang

In this study, we found that ILTV infection significantly promoted Src transcription but had a mild effect on the Src protein level at 2 dpi. Considering that only 10% of cells were positive for ILTV-gI staining at this time point, the difference in the expression pattern between the Src transcript and protein may be due to delayed translation of the Src transcript. We cannot rule out the possibility that oscillation of the Src mRNA/protein level or any posttranscriptional mechanism delays or even compromises the translation of additional Src transcripts. Actually, the increase in the amount of Src protein caused by ILTV infection may not be absolutely required for Src to modulate ILTV infection, because the phosphorylation of Src at Try 416, which maintains Src in an active conformation, is highly induced after ILTV infection, regardless of the absolute level of Src protein.