title: Differentially expressed genes in a flock of Chinese local-breed chickens infected with a subgroup J avian leukosis virus using suppression subtractive hybridization.
abstract: Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) is a new type of virus that mainly induces myeloid leukosis (ML) in chickens. To further elucidate the pathogenesis of ALV-J infection and tumor development, expression profiles from the bone marrow tissue of 15 infected and 18 non-infected birds from a local-breed poultry-farm under naturally infected conditions, were analyzed by suppression-subtractive hybridization. The birds were diagnosed as ML+ (or ML-) by specific ALV-J detection methods, involving serological tests for antigens and antibodies, and RT-PCR to detect viral RNA. A total of 59 partial gene sequences were revealed by differential screening of 496 forward and 384 reverse subtracted cDNA clones. Of these, 22 identified genes, including 8 up-regulated and 14 down-regulated, were related to immune functions, these genes being, MHC B-G antigen, translationally-controlled tumor protein (TPT1/TPTC), transferrin and ferritin, hemoglobin and Carbonic anhydrase. Four of the down-regulated genes were selected for further analysis, in view of their predicted roles in infection and immunity by real-time qRT-PCR, using RNA collected from the same birds as those used for SSH. The four genes were expressed at significantly lower levels (p < 0.001) in ALV-J infected birds than in non-infected ones.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing China.
authors.forename: Guiping
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Maiqing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jilan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Chunmei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Wenjuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Libo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang