Roadmap for the development of candidate vaccines for FMD

What are we trying to achieve and why? What is the problem we are trying to solve?

Identifying and removal of the factors contributing to pathological changes are essential for generating rationally
attenuated vaccines Identify determinants of viral virulence for different serotypes of FMDV in cattle, sheep, and swine

What are the scientific and technological challenges (knowledge gaps needing to be addressed)?

• Identify genetic determinants of virulence
• Study of virulence determinants observed in the field
• Assess role of subclinical infection

What approaches could/should be taken to address the research question?

Generation of a range of knock-out viruses and their use in experimental infections to establish the impact of the changes on virulence

What else needs to be done before we can solve this need?

Host-pathogen interaction

Existing knowledge including successes and failures

New molecules involved in the FMDV life cycle have been identified, some may have a role in virulence such as: RHA,
Sam68, JMJD6, Gemin5, Beclin 1, Vimentin, DCTN3 and LYPLA/ATP1. However, it is still not clear which host factors are critical for virulence.