Yolk specimens from chicken ovaries during oogenesis gave a positive signal
for ovalbumin as analyzed by Western blotting, indicating that the ovarian
yolk contains ovalbumin. Northern blotting and reverse transcriptase-polym
erase chain reaction gave a negative signal for ovalbumin mRNA in the liver
and other organs except oviduct, whereas the laying hen serum was found to
indicate immunologically the presence of ovalbumin. It was therefore assum
ed that ovalbumin synthesized in the oviduct might partly be secreted into
the blood circular system, from which it is taken up into the oocyte. (C) 2
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