Re-emergence of Avian leukosis virus subgroup J in the rooster of
Hy-line brown and its transmission pattern in flocks
Abstract
Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) is the most prevalent subgroup
in chickens and exhibits increasing pathogenicity and stronger
horizontal and vertical transmission ability in different kinds of
chicken. Although vertical transmission of ALV-J from hens infected
through artificial insemination with ALV-J infected semen was reported
before by the detection of swabs and serum, there was no further
research on the trasmission pattern of ALVs in the roosters. In the
present study, the introduction of Hy-line brown roosters infected with
ALV-J significantly increased the p27 positive rate of ALV in a
indigenous flock detected by virus isolation. Sequence analysis and IFA
showed that it is classified into ALV-J subgroup, locating in a new
branch compared with the domestic and foreign referential sequences.
Meanwhile, the gp85 gene of the ALV-J isolated in the hens and its
albumens had a homology of 94.1-99.7% with that in the roosters, which
means that the strain is quite likely transmitted to the hens and their
offspring through insemination of the roosters. Moreover, Semens are
directly detected by ELISA method is not completely accurate. There are
four ALV-J infection status in plasma and semen of rooster (V+S+, V-S+,
V+S-, V-S-), so the eradication of ALV in rooster requires simultaneous
virus isolation of semen and plasma. Therefore, we speculate that the
reason why there are still some sporadic findings of ALV-J in laying
hens is probably due to the incomplete eradication process of roosters.