Search

Chicken egg white ovotransferrin (OTF) has been reported to exist in three electrophoretic variants (OTFA, OTFB and OTFC). In this report, we identified a causal polymorphism between the OTFB and OTFC variants in Japanese and Taiwanese native chickens and compared the antibacterial activity between these two variants. The cDNA sequence analyses from Satsumadori oviducts revealed that three non-synonymous SNPs T1809G (Ser52Ala), A2258G (Ile96Val) and G7823A (Asp500Asn) corresponded to the OTF electrophoretic phenotypes. Of the three SNPs, the G7823A mutation perfectly corresponded to the electrophoretic phenotypes OTFB (G/G, Asp500Asp), OTFB/C (G/A, Asp500Asn) and OTFC (A/A, Asn500Asn) in three chicken populations. The variants OTFB and OTFC exhibited similar antibacterial potency against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. This study provides, for the first time, molecular information on polymorphism of OTFB and OTFC variants of chicken ovotransferrin and its effect on the antimicrobial activity of the respective variants.

This study was aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity of Egyptian native chickens by using mtDNA sequence polymorphism. A 546-bp fragment of the mtDNA D-loop region was sequenced for a total of 36 Egyptian native chickens with 14 reference sequences from DNA databank. Of the Egyptian chickens 5 haplotypes were identified. Haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity of the Egyptian native chickens were 0.5635±0.0845 and 0.00123±0.00108, respectively. The Egyptian native chickens were distributed within one clade, which were closed to the haplotypes from Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Most of Egyptian native chickens were classified into the haplotype E1, which contains 63.9% of individuals followed by E4 (16.6%), E5 (11.1%), E2 (5.5%) and E3 (2.7%), respectively. These findings indicate that the maternal lineages was involved in the origin of domestic chicken in Egypt may have roots in Indian subcontinent and other Southeast Asia. The genetic information from this study will probably pave the way to further studies for evaluation, preservation and improvement of Egyptian native chickens as genetic resources in the future.

In the present study, we have explored the genetic relationships between red junglefowls and domestic chickens in Southeast Asia by using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. We genotyped 475 individuals from 17 populations of red junglefowls (4 subspecies, n＝39), native chickens (10 populations, n＝346) and commercial breeds (3 breeds, n＝90) using PCR-RFLP for the 98 autosomal SNP markers. The genotyping results showed that average heterozygosity was 0.225±0.077 for red junglefowl, 0.272±0.009 for native chickens, and 0.211±0.037 for commercial breeds of chickens. The resultant neighbor-joining (NJ) tree with three distinct clusters corresponds to red junglefowls, native chickens and commercial breeds. The subspecies of red junglefowl was clustered into one clade and more closely related to native chickens than the commercial lines. Furthermore, the results of the population structure analysis suggested that the 17 populations appear to be derived from 11 genetic populations (K＝11). Among the domestic chickens, the NJ tree and genetic structure analysis revealed that Thailand native chickens was the most ancestral group of all chickens. These findings provide molecular evidence supporting the theory that the original domestication event occurred in Thailand. They also provide additional clustering information to classify red junglefowls and domestic chickens.

This is the first study in which genetic diversity of eight chicken populations including Satsumadori, Satsuma-jidori and three populations each of improved and commercial chicken by using 102 indels markers. Both of Satsumadori and Satsuma-jidori were referred to as Satsuma’s chickens in this study. The proportion of polymorphic loci, average observed and expected heterozygosities were ranged from 0.500 to 0.814, from 0.147 to 0.257 and from 0.175 to 0.247, respectively. Monomorphic indels loci being specific to a particular population were detected in some populations. The coefficients of genetic differentiation (Gst) of the Satsuma’s chickens and six populations of improved and commercial chickens were 0.124 and 0.287, respectively. The Gst for all populations was 0.329. The (Ds) genetic distance matrixes for all possible pairs (28 pairs) of populations were estimated from allele frequency to construct UPGMA tree. The UPGMA tree clearly divided Satsuma’s chickens and the other populations. The 2-D scatter plots of PCA analysis assembled the individuals into their respective populations.

In this study, whether the secretion of the uterine fluid (UF) exerts a role in the prolongation of functional life-span of the sperm in the hen oviduct was evaluated. The sperm were subjected to upper vaginal artificial insemination (AI) in the vicinity of the utero-vaginal junction (UVJ) under conditions of either non-secretion, plumping fluid (PF) secretion, or calcifying fluid (CF) secretion of the uterus of hens. Aliquots of the sperm were also subjected to in vitro storage at 41°C for 0, 2, 4, and 6 h in Lake’s solution (LS), PF and CF. Following AI, the exposure of the sperm to either PF or CF secretion resulted in a remarkably a longer duration of the fertile egg production compared to when the AI was performed during the non-secretory phase of the uterus (P

Native chickens in Myanmar and Thailand have been being domesticated for generations and yielded a wide variety of chickens. The objective of the research is to analyze the genetic variation and relationships of native chicken populations in Myanmar and Thailand. A total number of 249 genomic DNA samples from a total nine populations including the commercial lines, were genotyped using 98 autosomal SNP markers. The average heterozygosity of each population was in the range of 0.181-0.262. The neighbor-joining trees constructed by pair-wise FST estimates corresponded that the native chickens in Myanmar and Thailand were at a distance from the commercial chickens. The STRUCTURE analysis revealed that the nine chicken populations used in this study might be derived from six genetic populations (K=6). The AMOVA showed significant value of FST with 79-90% of the total genetic variation found within populations. The FCT value was significant but accounted for only 4.45% of the total variability among countries. Finally, the mantel test for Isolation by Distance result (r=0.5964; P

Japanese quail egg white lysozyme possesses two alleles (S and F). In our previous study, the F phenotype was more effective against bacteria than the S phenotype, whereas the female-derived S phenotype led to improved hatchability. In this study, we analyzed gene frequency of egg white lysozyme using Acid-PAGE and mismatch PCR-RFLP in 22 Japanese quail populations in Japan and compared with five populations in INRA, France. Genotyping of the lysozyme locus in 22 Japanese quail populations in Japan revealed that this locus is polymorphic in all populations except Nagoya University and Kagoshima University (LL and SS) populations. The S allele was a major allele with frequency from 0.69 to 1.00. In five French populations, it was polymorphic in all populations except AA population. The S allele was a major allele with frequency from 0.69 to 1.00. From these results, the lysozyme locus was polymorphic in the Japanese quails and the S allele was a major allele. The S allele was fixed in several populations which have been maintained as closed and small population.

In this study, we attempted to use amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) in combination with selective genotyping to detect loci that affected shank length and body weight at 10 weeks of age in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). A total of 88 primer pairs were used in AFLP analyses of 10 and 13 males with the longest and shortest shank lengths, respectively, from an F2 intercross population derived from lines differentiated by large and small body size (LL and SS, respectively). Ten AFLP bands differed strikingly in frequency between the two groups (P0.05), but did show a significant association with female body weight (P

A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) site, alleles A and C, within promoter region of insulin-like growth factor 1 gene (IGF1) showed significant association with chicken growth, body composition and skeletal traits. In the present study, we performed genotyping of this SNP in Asian native chicken populations, layer and broiler populations using PCR-RFLP and comparison of gene expression level and growth traits among the SNP genotypes. By the PCR-RFLP, allele C frequency was estimated to be within the range of 0.64-1.00 in 12 Asian native chicken populations, 0.48-1.00 in eight layer stocks and 0.00-0.14 in two broiler stocks examined in this study. In all chicken populations, the observed number of each SNP genotype was in good agreement with the Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), growth rate and IGF1 gene expression level in three-week liver were compared among three SNP genotypes obtained by AC×AC crossing. The rankings of each genotype with respect to BW, ADG and growth rate were AA>AC>CC, and statistical significance (PAA>CC. Although we could not find statistically significant difference among the genotypes in the growth rate and the gene expression level, the mean values of CC were lower than those of AA in all traits.