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Title: ISOLATION OF SUBGROUP J AVIAN LEUKOSIS VIRUSES AND THEIR PARTIAL SEQUENCE COMPARISON

Author
item DU, YAN - YANGZHOU UNIVERSITY PRC
item CUI, ZHI-ZHONG - SHANDONG AGRIC. UNIV PRC
item QIN, AIJIAN - AVIAN DISEASE & ONCOL LAB
item Silva, Robert
item Lee, Lucy

Submitted to: Chinese Journal of Virology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2001
Publication Date: 12/30/2001
Citation: Du, Y., Cui, Z., Qin, A., Silva, R.F., Lee, L.F. 2001. Isolation of subgroup j avian leukosis viruses and their partial sequence comparison. Chinese Journal of Virology.

Interpretive Summary: Subgroup J avian leukosis virus (ALV-J) induces a cancer-like disease in chickens. This virus has caused considerable problems in the U.S. commercial poultry industry and has begun spreading worldwide. The objective of this research was to determine whether this virus is present in poultry flocks in the People's Republic of China, the second largest broiler industry in the world. We isolated viruses from four different poultry farms in China. We also determined the unique arrangements (sequence) of the genetic building blocks (DNA bases) of the viruses. This important genetic information confirmed that the viruses were ALV-J and that they were 89-93% identical to the ALV-Js isolated in the U.S. This is the first report of the widespread occurrence of ALV-J in China. The presence of ALV-J in the Chinese poultry industry will necessitate implementing long and costly control programs.

Technical Abstract: Subgroup J avian leukosis viruses (ALV-J) were isolated from two broiler breeder farms with suspected diseased chickens and two commercial broiler flocks without clinical symptoms by inoculating the samples into chicken embryo fibroblast cells and PCR amplification of the infected CEF genomic DNA. In the indirect fluorescence assay (IFA) with ALV-J specific monoclonal antibody JE9, 2 strains, SD 9901 AND SD 9902 from breeder with suspected lesions, were strongly positive, another 2 strains, YZ9901 AND YZ9902 from commercial broilers without clinical symptoms gave weak reactions. The genomes of strains YZ9901 and SD9902 were partially sequenced and the results indicated that their gp85 had 89-93% identity in the amino acid level with ALV-J prototype HPRS-103 and American strain ADOL-HCl. The amino acid identity among themselves was 92%. The 3' noncoding LTR region had 95%-97% identity in the nucleotide level with ALV-J prototype strain HPRS-103. But the Chinese strains had a 139-base deletion mutation in their E elements nearby the 3'- LTR region and got an insertion of 11-base fragment instead.