Expanding Possibilities for Intervention against Small Ruminant Lentiviruses through Genetic Marker-Assisted Selective Breeding
1
Animal Disease Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
2
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Viruses 2013, 5(6), 1466-1499; https://doi.org/10.3390/v5061466
Received: 11 March 2013 / Revised: 1 June 2013 / Accepted: 7 June 2013 / Published: 14 June 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small Ruminant Lentiviruses)
Small ruminant lentiviruses include members that infect sheep (ovine lentivirus [OvLV]; also known as ovine progressive pneumonia virus/maedi-visna virus) and goats (caprine arthritis encephalitis virus [CAEV]). Breed differences in seroprevalence and proviral concentration of OvLV had suggested a strong genetic component in susceptibility to infection by OvLV in sheep. A genetic marker test for susceptibility to OvLV has been developed recently based on the TMEM154 gene with validation data from over 2,800 sheep representing nine cohorts. While no single genotype has been shown to have complete resistance to OvLV, consistent association in thousands of sheep from multiple breeds and management conditions highlight a new strategy for intervention by selective breeding. This genetic marker-assisted selection (MAS) has the potential to be a useful addition to existing viral control measures. Further, the discovery of multiple additional genomic regions associated with susceptibility to or control of OvLV suggests that additional genetic marker tests may be developed to extend the reach of MAS in the future. This review will cover the strengths and limitations of existing data from host genetics as an intervention and outline additional questions for future genetic research in sheep, goats, small ruminant lentiviruses, and their host-pathogen interactions.
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Keywords:
small ruminant lentivirus; susceptibility; marker-assisted selection; sheep; goats; TMEM154
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License
MDPI and ACS Style
White, S.N.; Knowles, D.P. Expanding Possibilities for Intervention against Small Ruminant Lentiviruses through Genetic Marker-Assisted Selective Breeding. Viruses 2013, 5, 1466-1499.
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