Maternal BLV Infection Markers and BoLA-DRB3 Polymorphism Are Associated with BLV Infection Outcomes in Dairy Youngstock.
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
- 2Department of Virology and Viral Animal Diseases, National Veterinary Research Institute, 24-100 Puławy, Poland.
- 3College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
- 4Cornerstone Ag Management, LLC, Hastings, MI 49058, USA.
- 5CentralStar Cooperative Inc., Lansing, MI 48910, USA.
Abstract
Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a deltaretrovirus that establishes lifelong infection in cattle and remains highly prevalent in dairy herds. This study evaluated associations between maternal BLV infection markers, daughter BoLA-DRB3 variation, and BLV outcomes in dairy youngstock. We studied 201 dam-daughter pairs from five dairy farms. BLV status was assessed using ELISA and quantitative PCR (qPCR); maternal qPCR results were available for 126 dams, and daughters were sampled longitudinally during the youngstock period. BoLA-DRB3 genotypes were determined in 199 daughters, and genotype-level epitope breadth was defined as the non-redundant union of predicted BLV Gag epitopes across both alleles. BLV proviral DNA was detected in 33 of 200 daughters (16.5%) in the qPCR outcome used for the main analysis. Among 38 daughters with BLV proviral DNA detected at least once, first detection occurred preweaning in 2, prebreeding in 24, and post-breeding in 12. Maternal ELISA positivity was associated with higher odds of daughter BLV proviral DNA detection (OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.10-6.83), whereas maternal PVL showed a positive but imprecise association (OR 1.94, 95% CI 0.89-4.22). Greater predicted epitope breadth was nominally associated with lower odds of BLV proviral DNA detection (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.60-0.97; q = 0.162) and BLV seropositivity (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.65-0.98; q = 0.162), but neither association remained significant after correction for multiple testing. BoLA-DRB3*014:01:01 carriers also had lower observed frequencies of BLV proviral DNA detection and BLV seropositivity. Overall, maternal infection markers were associated with later BLV outcomes in daughters, whereas the BoLA-DRB3 findings provide suggestive evidence of host immunogenetic heterogeneity.
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BibTeX
@article{sokacz2026maternal,
title = {{Maternal BLV Infection Markers and BoLA-DRB3 Polymorphism Are Associated with BLV Infection Outcomes in Dairy Youngstock.}},
author = {Madison E Sokacz and Aneta Pluta and Bo Norby and Paul Bartlett and Kelly R B Sporer and Casey Droscha and Tasia M Taxis},
journal = {International journal of molecular sciences},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3390/ijms27198627},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883876},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Maternal BLV Infection Markers and BoLA-DRB3 Polymorphism Are Associated with BLV Infection Outcomes in Dairy Youngstock.
AU - Madison E Sokacz
AU - Aneta Pluta
AU - Bo Norby
AU - Paul Bartlett
AU - Kelly R B Sporer
AU - Casey Droscha
AU - Tasia M Taxis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/26
JO - International journal of molecular sciences
DO - 10.3390/ijms27198627
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883876
AB - Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a deltaretrovirus that establishes lifelong infection in cattle and remains highly prevalent in dairy herds. This study evaluated associations between maternal BLV infection markers, daughter BoLA-DRB3 variation, and BLV outcomes in dairy youngstock. We studied 201 dam-daughter pairs from five dairy farms. BLV status was assessed using ELISA and quantitative PCR (qPCR); maternal qPCR results were available for 126 dams, and daughters were sampled longitudinally during the youngstock period. BoLA-DRB3 genotypes were determined in 199 daughters, and genotype-level epitope breadth was defined as the non-redundant union of predicted BLV Gag epitopes across both alleles. BLV proviral DNA was detected in 33 of 200 daughters (16.5%) in the qPCR outcome used for the main analysis. Among 38 daughters with BLV proviral DNA detected at least once, first detection occurred preweaning in 2, prebreeding in 24, and post-breeding in 12. Maternal ELISA positivity was associated with higher odds of daughter BLV proviral DNA detection (OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.10-6.83), whereas maternal PVL showed a positive but imprecise association (OR 1.94, 95% CI 0.89-4.22). Greater predicted epitope breadth was nominally associated with lower odds of BLV proviral DNA detection (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.60-0.97; q = 0.162) and BLV seropositivity (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.65-0.98; q = 0.162), but neither association remained significant after correction for multiple testing. BoLA-DRB3*014:01:01 carriers also had lower observed frequencies of BLV proviral DNA detection and BLV seropositivity. Overall, maternal infection markers were associated with later BLV outcomes in daughters, whereas the BoLA-DRB3 findings provide suggestive evidence of host immunogenetic heterogeneity.
SN - 1422-0067
ER -