Abstract
Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a retrovirus that causes enzootic bovine leucosis. To investigate the presence and genetic variability of BLV in the Caribbean for the first time, we preformed fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-PCR for the pol of BLV on DNA from whole blood of cattle from Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis and St. Kitts. Standard PCRs with primers for the env were used for phylogenetic analysis of BLV in positive animals. We found FRET-PCR positive cattle (12.6%, 41/325) on Dominica (5.2%; 4/77) and St. Kitts (19.2%; 37/193) but not on Montserrat (0%, 0/12) or Nevis (0%, 0/43). Positive animals were cows on farms where animals were raised intensively. Phylogenetic analysis using the neighbor-joining (NJ) method on partial and full-length env sequences obtained for strains from Dominica (n = 2) and St. Kitts (n = 5) and those available in GenBank (n = 90) (genotypes 1–10) revealed the Caribbean strains belonged to genotype 1 (98–100% sequence homology). Ours is the first molecular characterization of BLV infections in the Caribbean and the first description of genotype 1 in the region.
Highlights
The bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a member of the Retroviridae and the agent of enzootic bovine leucosis (EBL)
We examined a total of 325 samples of which 41 (12.6%) were positive in our BLV pol fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-PCR
Our study shows for the first time that cattle in the Caribbean are infected with BLV
Summary
The bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a member of the Retroviridae and the agent of enzootic bovine leucosis (EBL). BLV infection is associated with decreased milk yields, changes in milk composition and shortened life-span [1,2,3,4]. The env encodes a mature surface glycoprotein (gp51) and a transmembrane protein (gp30) [5] which is involved in viral infectivity [6,7,8]. Various genetic groupings have been described [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. In 2009, Rodriguez et al [17] used new and existing sequence data to differentiate BLV into seven genotypes and subsequently three new genotypes were described in Croatia [18], Bolivia [19], Eastern Europe and PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0168379. In 2009, Rodriguez et al [17] used new and existing sequence data to differentiate BLV into seven genotypes and subsequently three new genotypes were described in Croatia [18], Bolivia [19], Eastern Europe and PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0168379 December 15, 2016
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