Bovine leukemia virus tax gene/tax protein and premiRNA genes polymorphism and its relation to Enzootic Bovine Leukosis

Title : Bovine leukemia virus tax gene/tax protein and premiRNA genes polymorphism and its relation to Enzootic Bovine Leukosis

Abstract:

The aim of this study is the investigation of the polymorphism of the tax gene/Tax protein and pre-miRs-B (pre-miRNA genes of Bovine leukemia virus (BLV)) polymorphism and its relation to Enzootic Bovine Leukosis.

Methods: Peripheral blood samples of 2 to 5 years old female Holstein cattle (farming in Moscow region, Russia) have been used. They have been tested for proviral DNA host genome insertion by PCR (BLV-positive or BLV-negative) and for the presence of antibodies to gp51 BLV antigen by AGID (BLV-seropositive or BLV-seronegative). All samples have been divided into two groups: the group of 16 BLV-seropositive and proviral BLV-positive samples (further: BLV-positive) and another group of 26 BLV-seronegative and proviral BLV-negative samples (further: BLV-negative). WBCs of the samples have been counted on the Abacus Junior Vet 5 Automatic Hematology Analyzer (Diatron, Austria). The BLV-positive samples group has been used for further investigation of the tax gene/Tax protein and pre-miR-B genes’ polymorphism. DNA fragments of tax and pre-miR-B genes have been amplified and further cloned and sequenced. Five or six clones for each of the BLV-positive samples have been sequenced by Sanger’s method. The t-test (http://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/) and ANOVA test (GraphPad Prism V.7.04 (1992–2017 GraphPad Software, Inc.)) have been made for statistical testing of the results.

Results: Several alleles of the tax gene and pre-miR-B genes have been received as proof of its polymorphism. Some of them have a highly significant association with an increase and others – with a decreased number of the WBCs in BLV-infected cows. The specific pre-miR-B alleles can be responsible for the increased number of WBCs in BLV-infected cows. The specific tax alleles (and corresponded Tax protein variants) can be responsible for the decreased number of the WBCs in BLV-infected cows, which could be considered the feature of the aleukemic form of BLV infection. They could be named the aleukemic tax alleles.

Biography:

Dr. Irina Zyrianova studied Cytology and Genetics at the Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, and graduated with MS in 1985. She then studied Chemistry at the Moscow State University and finished with Ph.D. in molecular biology in 1993. After three years of postdoctoral fellowship (1996-1999) supervised by Dr. Sheila MacIntyre at the University of Reading, School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, Reading, the UK, she was one year Exchange Visitor at The University of Miami, School of Medicine, Miami, Fl, USA.   After that, she returned to Moscow, Russia, and worked in the different Research Institutions: Institute of Engineering Immunology (Lyubuchany, Chekhov district, Moscow region), Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, and Institute of Molecular Genetics (Russian Acaademy of Sciences). She works in Institute for Innovative Biotechnologies in Animal Husbandry (The branch of the Federal Science Center for Animal Husbandry named after Academy Member L.K. Ernst). She has published six research articles in SCIE journals.