Recombinant turkey herpesvirus expressing H9 hemagglutinin providing protection against H9N2 avian influenza

H9N2 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) were prevailing in chickens, causing great economic losses and public health threats. In this study, turkey herpesviruses (HVT) was cloned as an infectious bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC). Recombinant HVT (rHVT-H9) containing hemagglutinin (HA) gene from H9N2 virus were constructed via galactokinase (galK) selection and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) gene editing system. The recombinant rHVT-H9 showed no difference with parent HVT in plague morphology and virus replication kinetics. H9 protein expression of rHVT-H9 could be detected by western blot and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) in vitro and in vivo. Immunization with rHVT-H9 could induce robust humoral and cellular immunity in chickens. In the challenge study, no chicken shed H9N2 virus from oropharynx and cloaca, and no H9N2 virus was found in viscera in vaccination groups. The result suggests that rHVT-H9 provides effective protection against H9N2 AIV in chickens.