Susceptibility of avian B lymphocytes to retroviral infection parallels that of fibroblasts.

The ability of conventional virus receptors to mediate infection and transformation of immature B cells by the avian leukosis virus (ALV) was analyzed in chimeric chickens whose bursa of Fabricius contained a mixture of B cells from subgroup A virus receptor-positive and -negative chickens. The data indicate that factors that determine resistance of fibroblasts to ALV infection also apply to bursal cells and that other receptors expressed by B cells, i.e., antigen or mitogen receptors, do not initiate infection or transformation, at least not independent of conventional virus receptors.