Diversity and evolution of the highly polymorphic tandem repeat LEI0258 in the chicken MHC-B region.

The chicken major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is located on the microchromosome 16 and is described as the most variable region in the genome. The genes of the MHC play a central role in the immune system. Particularly, genes encoding proteins involved in the antigen presentation to T cells.

Gene diversity, agroecological structure and introgression patterns among village chicken populations across North, West and Central Africa.

Background: Chickens represent an important animal genetic resource for improving farmers' income in Africa. The present study provides a comparative analysis of the genetic diversity of village chickens across a subset of African countries. Four hundred seventy-two chickens were sampled in 23 administrative provinces across Cameroon, Benin, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Morocco.

Effect of the slow (K) or rapid (k+) feathering gene on body and feather growth and fatness according to ambient temperature in a Leghorn x brown egg type cross.

Chicks of both sexes issued from the cross of heterozygous K/k+ cocks for the slow-feathering sex linked K allele with k+ (rapid feathering) hens, were compared from the age of 4 to 10 weeks at two ambient temperatures. In individual cages, 30 male chicks of each genotype (K/k+ and k+/k+) were raised at 21 degrees C, and 60 others, distributed in the same way, were raised at 31 degrees C. 71 K/W females and 69 k+/W females were raised in a floor pen at 31 degrees C till 10 weeks of age.