Influence of endogenous viral (ev) gene expression and strain of exogenous avian leukosis virus (ALV) on mortality and ALV infection and shedding in chickens.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the influence of endogenous viral (ev) gene expression on the response of chicken to day-old inoculation with two laboratory and two field strains of avian leukosis virus (ALV). The ev2- and ev3-negative semi-congenic chickens had much higher mortality from a unique non-neoplastic syndrome (NNS) than ev2- and ev3-positive semi-congenic chickens after inoculation with ALV strain RAV-1. The three other ALV strains induced little NNS. All four strains of ALV induced higher incidences of neutralizing antibody and lower incidences of viremia in ev2- and ev3-negative chickens than ev2- and ev3-positive chickens. The semi-congenic ev2- and ev3-negative chickens were only slightly less likely to shed ALV in the cloaca. Chickens of line 0, an unrelated line lacking ev genes, had a much higher rate of antibody production and lower rate of viremia and shedding than the semi-congenic chickens. Surprisingly, line 0 failed to get NNS after RAV-1 inoculation. There were major differences among strains of ALV in induction of antibody response, viremia, and shedding in the cloaca. The two field strains of ALV tended to be less immunogenic than the laboratory strains. We conclude that both the genetics of the host, including variation in ev gene expression, and the strain of ALV can influence the probability of ALV shedding and congenital transmission after horizontal infection.