TY - JOUR AU - Zheng, HaoQiang AU - Pan, Yi AU - Tang, Shaohua AU - Pye, Geoffrey W. AU - Stadler, Cynthia K. AU - Vogelnest, Larry AU - Herrin, Kimberly Vinette AU - Rideout, Bruce A. AU - Switzer, William M. PY - 2020 DA - 2020/10/02 TI - Koala retrovirus diversity, transmissibility, and disease associations JO - Retrovirology SP - 34 VL - 17 IS - 1 AB - Koalas are infected with the koala retrovirus (KoRV) that exists as exogenous or endogenous viruses. KoRV is genetically diverse with co-infection with up to ten envelope subtypes (A-J) possible; KoRV-A is the prototype endogenous form. KoRV-B, first found in a small number of koalas with an increased leukemia prevalence at one US zoo, has been associated with other cancers and increased chlamydial disease. To better understand the molecular epidemiology of KoRV variants and the effect of increased viral loads (VLs) on transmissibility and pathogenicity we developed subtype-specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays and tested blood and tissue samples from koalas at US zoos (n = 78), two Australian zoos (n = 27) and wild-caught (n = 21) in Australia. We analyzed PCR results with available clinical, demographic, and pedigree data. SN - 1742-4690 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12977-020-00541-1 DO - 10.1186/s12977-020-00541-1 ID - Zheng2020 ER -