-The aim of the study was to analyse experimental transmission of Mycoplasma synoviae, an avian pathogen. Three experiments using specific pathogen-free day-old chicks placed in isolators were conducted. In the first experiment, the birds were introduced in an isolator previously contaminated with a M. synoviae broth culture. After 34 days, these birds were eliminated and, for the second trial, the chicks were introduced in the same isolator without disinfecting. In the third assay, the chicks were placed in an isolator containing a mixture of food, feathers and dust collected less than an hour earlier from a M. synoviae infected laying hen flock. In the second and third experiments in order to exacerbate the M. synoviae infection, the birds were inoculated with infectious bronchitis (IB) virus. The presence of M. synoviae in the environment and in tracheal swabs was monitored by culture, a multiplex PCR (mPCR) detecting M. synoviae and Mycoplasma 16S rDNA and a multiplex RT-PCR (mRT-PCR) detecting the M. synoviae mRNA coding for a membrane protein and Mycoplasma 16S rRNA. In in vitro experimental conditions, M. synoviae mRNA and 16S rRNA were detected up to 20 min and 23 h respectively after mycoplasma death. In the first assay, the first infected bird was detected on the 13th day. In the second trial, culturable M. synoviae or viable M. synoviae were detected in the isolator for 3 or 4 to 5 days respectively after depopulation of the birds of the first assay whereas the first culture positive tracheal swabs were detected on the 33rd day, after IB inoculation. In the third experiment, the first infected birds were detected on the 54th day. Thus, the different assays showed that M. synoviae contaminated material (dust, feathers and food) can infect chicks, sometimes after remarkably long silent periods. Mycoplasma synoviae / chicken / environment / transmission

A detailed map of the transcriptional organization of the CELO virus genome was produced. Recent computer analysis of CELO virus has indicated the presence of 38 putative open reading frames (ORFs). This study, based on analysis of the transcriptional products of CELO in vitro, confirmed the presence of RNAs for 26 of these 38 ORFs. All of the results were obtained by cDNA isolation or specific reverse transcriptase PCR. Observation of ORF transcription kinetics postinfection revealed the existence of early and late expression, with the earliest starting at 2 h postinfection. The 5′ untranslated regions of some RNAs were also studied, and this revealed the existence of a bipartite leader sequence, comparable in structure to the tripartite leader of mastadenovirus. The leader most probably involved in transcriptional activity was observed in most of the structural protein genes of the CELO virus genome. This suggests some homology in transcriptional organization between the avian adenovirus CELO and known mastadenoviruses such as human adenovirus.

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