Ma. Sacco et K. Venugopal, Segregation of EAV-HP ancient endogenous retroviruses within the chicken population, J VIROLOGY, 75(23), 2001, pp. 11935-11938
Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J), an exogenous avian retrovirus, is
thought to have evolved by recombination with the highly identical env gene
of the endogenous avian retrovirus EAV-HP. Embryonic expression of EAV-HP
env has been suggested to be associated with the induction of immunological
tolerance, a feature observed in a significant proportion of meat-type chi
ckens infected with ALV-J. In support of this hypothesis, we demonstrate th
at EAV-HP loci, some of which could be associated with tolerance, are still
segregating within the chicken population.