Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is the causative agent of a life-long disease in cattle. In dairy cows, it has been shown to decrease productivity, negatively affect immune response to novel pathogens and vaccinations, and in turn leads to increased culling rates. This dissertation has shown that by inoculating cows with a novel antigen, proviral load (PVL) may increase and pose risk to uninfected herdmates. This dissertation has also shown that Michigan dairy cows have a limited major histocompatibility complex II (MHCII) repertoire of alleles. The alleles direct the genetically inherited immune response to pathogens through antigen recognition among the binding site. The lower the repertoire of alleles, the less likely pathogens are to be recognized among a population. Together, these results may suggest the need for new BLV herd management strategies that could include further segregation by BLV PVL status, as well as the opportunity to genetically select cattle based on their genetically inherited immune response.
Read
