Genetic variation among chicken lines and mammalian species in specific genes

Thirteen gene-specific primer sets provided by the U.S. Poultry Genome Coor dinators were used to investigate DNA polymorphisms between two highly inbr ed chicken Lines of Leghorn and Fayoumi origin. Nucleotide and predicted am ino acid sequences were then compared among these chicken lines and the Gen bank sequences of chicken, mouse, and human. The following genes were selec ted as candidates for immune response or transcription activation: B2M, DAD 1, IAP1, IL2, IXEB1, LAP18, MAFL, POU1F1, RREB1, TAD, TBP1, TCRG, and ZOV3. Total cDNA was obtained from the spleens of Leghorn and Fayoumi lines by r everse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and was used as a temp late to PCR-amplify gene-specific products. All primers except POU1F1 and T CRG generated single PCR products of the predicted 325- to 667-bp size, con firming the efficacy of these gene-specific primers in the chicken. Three a nd seven of the 11 amplified gene fragments yielded line-specific nucleotid e polymorphisms between the Leghorn and Fayoumi sequences and between the L eghorn and Genbank chicken sequences respectively. Similarities between inb red Leghorn and mammalian species were 36 to 86% for nucleotides and 25 to 96% for predicted amino acid sequence. The polymorphisms of some gene fragm ents between the Leghorn and Fayoumi lines will allow for investigation of associations of these genes with immune response and other biological trait s.