Pathogenesis and immunity of Avian bornavirus infections in birds

• Applicant: Dr. Dennis Rubbenstroth
• Subject Area: Veterinary Medical Science
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 265863434

Avian Bornaviruses (ABVs) were first described in 2008 as the causative agents of a severe and often fatal disease in parrots and related species (zoological order: Psittaciformes), which is called Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD). PDD is widely distributed in captive parrots and causes remarkable losses to these populations. In addition, the disease poses a severe threat to breeding projects and possibly also to wild populations of endangered psittacine species.For mammalian bornaviruses (Borna Disease Virus, BDV), many aspects of viral transmission, disease pathogenesis and immunity have been studied in experimental hosts, such as rats and mice. Much less is known about the characteristics of ABV infections in birds and it remains to be elucidated to which extent knowledge obtained from BDV can be applied. This project is set out to establish ABV infection and disease models in natural and experimental avian hosts, and subsequently to use these models to investigate ABV kinetics in the organism as well as mechanisms underlying immunity against ABV infection and pathogenesis of PDD.Three major strands of investigation are proposed:1) ABV immunity and immunopathology in natural avian hosts (cockatiel and domestic canary) based on previously generated viral vector vaccines.2) Evaluation of gallinaceous species (chicken and quail) as experimental ABV hosts.3) Generation of reporter viruses to investigate viral kinetics in vivo.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants