Characterization of four endogenous viral genes in semi-congenic lines of meat chickens

Abstract

Restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses were used to examine endogenous viral genes (ev genes or ALVE genes) of the avian leukosis viral (ALV) family in semi-congenic lines of meat chickens. The Generation 6 lines examined in this study were semi-congenic in that each contained birds with either zero or with one ALVE gene in hemizygous state plus some solitary long terminal repeat (LTR) elements. Using four restriction enzymes on chicken genomic DNA and two probes, one representing the entire ALV retroviral genome and one with only a small part plus the LTR, four ALVE genes were characterized. Each seemed to be complete with no detectable deletions. None appeared to be similar to known ALVE genes of White Leghorns, whereas two of the four may be the same as ALVE genes reported by others in White Plymouth Rock chickens.

Characterization of insertion sites and development of locus-specific assays for three broiler-derived subgroup E avian leukosis virus proviruses

“…Previous work by Grunder et al (1999) used Southern blot analysis to assess the structural completeness of the broiler-derived elements used in this study. Their work suggested that all three elements (ALVE-B9, ALVE-B10 and ALVE-B11) were full length, at least within the resolution of the Southern blot assay used.…”

“…Studies based on Southern blot analysis using a variety of lines of chickens suggested the existence of at least 20 unique elements (Hughes et al, 1979;Astrin et al, 1980;Gudkov et al, 1981;Humphries et al, 1984;Crittenden, 1991;Sabour et al, 1992). More recent evidence suggests that there are 50 or more different ALVE loci in various lines of chicken (Benkel, 1998).…”