Examination of Simple and Rapid PCR Method for Bovine Leukemia Virus

Abstract

Enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) is caused by bovine leukemia virus (BLV). To detect BLV, we investigated a simple rapid inspection method using PCR with heat-extracted DNA from the tissues collected by disposable loops (loop method). In the genetic analysis, the PCR products showed a homology of 99.55% with the known BLV gene, confirming the accuracy of the loop method as a BLV detection system. The comparative analysis of BLV detection between nested PCR and the loop method in EBL cases, sporadic bovine leukemia cases, and negative control cattle, showed almost perfect agreement with a kappa value of 0.82. These results indicate that the loop method would be useful as a BLV detection method.