Comparison of Chinese field strains of avian leukosis subgroup J viruses with prototype strain HPRS-103 and United States strains

Eight Chinese field strains of subgroup J avian leukosis viruses (ALV-J) were isolated from broilers or parent stocks during January 1999 to April 2001. One strain, SD9902, was an acute transforming virus, able to induce typical myelocytomatosis in 22-38 days after inoculation of 1-day-old meat-type chicks. The envelope protein and 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of the eight field strains were compared with the U.K. prototype HPRS-103 and several U.S. field strains isolated in 1993-97. All Chinese strains shared an almost identical deletion with the U.S. strain 4817 in the E element region of 3'-UTR when compared with the prototype HPRS-103, indicating that they have a very close phylogenic relationship. Every year, China has to import grandparent stocks of meat-type chickens, mainly from the United States. Chinese isolates should represent a part in the phylogenic tree of U.S. ALV-J evolution. Envelope protein gp85 amino acid sequence analysis demonstrated that, interestingly, all recent Chinese isolates were more closely related to HPRS-103 and the earliest U.S. isolates but not to the late U.S. isolates. The result implies that envelope gp85 may not have diverged from prototype and older strains. It is also possible that some recently imported birds could have been infected by the older viruses that were introduced in the late 1990s.