A recombinant newcastle disease virus with low-level V protein expression is immunogenic and lacks pathogenicity for chicken embryos

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) edits its P-gene mRNA by inserting a nontemplated G residue(s) at a conserved editing site (3'-UUUUUCCC-template strand). In the wild-type virus, three amino-coterminal P-gene-derived proteins, P, V, and W, are produced at frequencies of approximately 68, 29, and 2%, respectively. By applying the reverse genetics technique, editing-defective mutants were generated in cell culture. Compared to the wild-type virus, mutants lacking either six nucleotides of the conserved editing site or the unique C-terminal part of the V protein produced as much as 5, 000-fold fewer infectious progeny in vitro or 200,000-fold fewer in 6-day-old embryonated chicken eggs. In addition, both mutants were unable to propagate in 9- to 11-day-old embryonated specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicken eggs. In contrast, a mutant (NDV-P1) with one nucleotide substitution (UUCUUCCC) grew in eggs, albeit with a 100-fold-lower infectious titer than the parent virus. The modification in the first two mutants described above led to complete abolition of V expression, whereas in NDV-P1 the editing frequency was reduced to less than 2%, and as a result, V was expressed at a 20-fold-lower level. NDV-P1 showed markedly attenuated pathogenicity for SPF chicken embryos, unlike currently available ND vaccine strains. These findings indicate that the V protein of NDV has a dual function, playing a direct role in virus replication as well as serving as a virulence factor. Administration of NDV-P1 to 18-day-old embryonated chicken eggs hardly affected hatchability. Hatched chickens developed high levels of NDV-specific antibodies and were fully protected against lethal challenge, demonstrating the potential use of editing-defective recombinant NDV as a safe embryo vaccine.