Detection of avian leukemia virus subgroup K in Russia and its molecular genetic analysis

The Avian leukemia virus (ALV) belongs to the genus Alpharetrovirus ( Retroviridae ). The genome of the virus is a single-stranded RNA of more than 7,000 nucleotides in length. The ALV subgroups A, B, C, D, J, K and E are specific viruses of chicken. ALV classification is based on the type-specific envelope protein antigens, GP85. ALV is widely spread all over the world, causes various diseases, reduces productivity and leads to huge damage to poultry industry. The viruses of subgroup K were first discovered in Asian countries. Studies of the prevalence of ALV of subgroup K are few and have not been conducted in Russia before. Our goal was to study the spread of the ALV of this subgroup to the chickens of Russian poultry farms using a test system designed to identify the genome of the ALV subgroup K by real-time PCR and analysis of the properties of the ALV of subgroup K. The test of the real-time PCR test system was carried out on 5292 DNA samples of chickens of domestic broiler meat type of one of the farms in the Moscow Province and in chickens of meat and egg breeds from various regions of Russia...