Real-time reverse transcriptase PCR for the endogenous koala retrovirus reveals an association between plasma viral load and neoplastic disease in koalas

Tarlinton, Rachael; Meers, Joanne; Hanger, Jon; Young, Paul

Abstract

Koala retrovirus (KoRV) is a newly described endogenous retrovirus and is unusual in that inserts comprise a full-length replication competent genome. As koalas are known to suffer from an extremely high incidence of leukaemia/lymphoma, the association between this retrovirus and disease in koalas was examined. Using quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR it was demonstrated that KoRV RNA levels in plasma are significantly increased in animals suffering from leukaemia or lymphoma when compared with healthy animals. Increased levels of KoRV were also seen for animals with clinical chlamydiosis. A significant positive association between viral RNA levels and age was also demonstrated. Real-time PCR demonstrated as much as 5 log variation in KoRV proviral DNA levels in genomic DNA extracted from whole blood from different animals. Taken together these data indicate that KoRV is an active endogenous retrovirus and suggests that it may be causally linked to neoplastic disease in koalas. © 2005 SGM.

Citation

Tarlinton, R., Meers, J., Hanger, J., & Young, P. (2025). Real-time reverse transcriptase PCR for the endogenous koala retrovirus reveals an association between plasma viral load and neoplastic disease in koalas. Journal of General Virology, 86(3), 783-787. https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.80547-0

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 2, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 1, 2025
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2025
• Deposit Date: Feb 28, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 3, 2025
• Journal: Journal of General Virology
• Print ISSN: 0022-1317
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-2099
• Publisher: Microbiology Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 86
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 783-787
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.80547-0
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3116476
• Publisher URL: https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.80547-0#