Construction of recombinant Marek's disease virus (MDV) lacking the meq oncogene and co-expressing AIV-H9N2 HA and NA genes under control of exogenous promoters.

Highlights: [•] The MDV–BAC genetics system is highly flexible and facilitates the engineering of recombinant multivalent vaccine. [•] The rescue of rMDV as an ideal viral vector carries exogenous genes and lacks the meq oncogene. [•] The rMDV may be a useful tool not only to screen for a herpes and AIV-H9N2 multivalent vaccine, but also for fundamental research on the biology of the recombinant virus. [•] We were able to combine Red/ET with FLP/FRT screening system to mediate two steps of recombination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]