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. 2022 Sep 24;11(10):1093.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens11101093.

Identification of BoLA Alleles Associated with BLV Proviral Load in US Beef Cows

Ciarra H LaHuis  1 , Oscar J Benitez  2 , Casey J Droscha  3 , Sukhdeep Singh  4 , Andrew Borgman  5 , Chaelynne E Lohr  3 , Paul C Bartlett  6 , Tasia M Taxis  1
Affiliations

Identification of BoLA Alleles Associated with BLV Proviral Load in US Beef Cows

Ciarra H LaHuis et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) causes enzootic bovine leukosis, the most common neoplastic disease in cattle. Previous work estimates that 78% of US beef operations and 38% of US beef cattle are seropositive for BLV. Infection by BLV in a herd is an economic concern for producers as evidence suggests that it causes an increase in cost and a subsequent decrease in profit to producers. Studies investigating BLV in dairy cattle have noted disease resistance or susceptibility, measured by a proviral load (PVL) associated with specific alleles of the bovine leukocyte antigen (BoLA) DRB3 gene. This study aims to investigate the associations between BoLA DRB3 alleles and BLV PVL in beef cattle. Samples were collected from 157 Midwest beef cows. BoLA DRB3 alleles were identified and compared with BLV PVL. One BoLA DRB3 allele, *026:01, was found to be associated with high PVL in relation to the average of the sampled population. In contrast, two alleles, *033:01 and *002:01, were found to be associated with low PVL. This study provides evidence of a relationship between BoLA DRB3 alleles and BLV PVL in US beef cows.

Keywords: BLV; BoLA DRB3; beef cattle; bovine leukemia virus; disease progression; disease resistance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Estimated effect of MHC Class II BoLA-DRB3 alleles on BLV proviral load in beef cattle. Red dots indicate the BOLA-DRB3 allele estimated allelic effect as a deviation from the population average PVL. Asterisks represent significance, with * 0.05 ≤ p ≤ 0.10 and ** p ≤ 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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