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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Molecular Viral Pathogenesis
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1466333
This article is part of the Research Topic Forum for the Frontline Retrovirology: Know Others and Know Oneself View all articles

Association between genetic clades and cancer prevalence suggested by French-wide study of oncogenic small ruminant beta-retroviruses diversity

Provisionally accepted
Benjamin Riocreux-Verney Benjamin Riocreux-Verney 1Marie Verneret Marie Verneret 1,2Remi Diesler Remi Diesler 1Christine Dolmazon Christine Dolmazon 1Barbara Gineys Barbara Gineys 1Jean-Luc Cadoré Jean-Luc Cadoré 1,3Jocelyn Turpin Jocelyn Turpin 1CAroline Leroux CAroline Leroux 1*
  • 1 INRA UMR754 Infections Virales et Pathologie Comparée, Lyon, France
  • 2 UMR5558 Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive (LBBE), Villeurbanne, Rhône-Alpes, France
  • 3 VetAgro Sup, Lyon, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    ENTV (Enzootic Nasal Tumor Virus) and JSRV (Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus) are βretroviruses responsible for respiratory cancers in sheep and goats. In this study, we analyzed the genetic features of the sheep and goat β-retrovirus (29 JSRV and 24 ENTV strains) circulating in France to identify molecular signatures associated with disease severity in flocks. We developed a highly specific PCR to amplify and sequence exogenous targeted regions or near full length proviruses based on limited discriminating motifs along their genomes. The phylogenetic reconstructions based on the LTR and env regions suggest that one major strain is circulating on the French territory for ENTV-1 and ENTV-2 while not clustering with already published Spanish, Canadian or Chinese strains. JSRV strains circulating in French sheep flocks were distributed in 2 distinct genetic clades clustering with sequences originating from North America, Africa and United-Kingdom. JSRV clade I was found to be associated with a higher incidence of cancer in French flocks. Specific motifs spanning the entire JSRV genome particularly in the LTRs and in the intracytoplasmic domain of the envelope were detected between the two genetic subtypes. This work represents the first nationwide study describing the circulation of the three closely related β-oncogenic retrovirus JSRV, ENTV-1 and ENTV-2 in French sheep and goat flocks. Better characterization of strain genetics is a critical step in monitoring circulating  retrovirus, especially those associated with higher cancer incidence in small ruminants.

    Keywords: JSRV, ENTV-1, ENTV-2, Virulence Factors, Genomic epidemiology

    Received: 17 Jul 2024; Accepted: 01 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Riocreux-Verney, Verneret, Diesler, Dolmazon, Gineys, Cadoré, Turpin and Leroux. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: CAroline Leroux, INRA UMR754 Infections Virales et Pathologie Comparée, Lyon, France

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