The epidemic spread of fowl adenovirus 4 (FAdV-4) presents significant challenges for the global poultry industry. However, there are currently few convenient and sensitive platforms available for antiviral drug screening and neutralizing antibody detection. In this study, we first established an improved reverse genetics system for the FAdV-4 and screened for the optimal insertion site for foreign genes between ORF19A and ORF4. Furthermore, the HiBiT gene was further inserted into this site, and rFAdV-4-HiBiT was successfully rescued. A luciferase-based FAdV-4 neutralizing antibody detection method has been successfully established, which can reduce detection time and greatly enhance the efficiency of neutralizing antibody testing. Furthermore, this system can serve as a more convenient screening platform for anti-FAdV-4 drugs. Collectively, rFAdV-4-HibiT represents an important tool with great potential for facilitating the development of novel therapeutics and vaccines for FAdV-4.
Guo et al. (Wed,) studied this question.