SARS-CoV-2 infection and immune responses.

The recent pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to be an enormous global challenge faced by the healthcare sector. Availability of new vaccines and drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2 and sequelae of COVID-19 has given the world hope in ending the pandemic. However, the emergence of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome every couple of months in different parts of world is a persistent danger to public health.

Regulation and function of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF1) in the chicken immune system.

Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF1) is an essential growth factor to control the proliferation, differentiation and survival of cells of the macrophage lineage in vertebrates. We have previously produced a recombinant chicken CSF1-Fc fusion protein and administrated it to birds which produced a substantial expansion of tissue macrophage populations. To further study the biology of CSF1 in the chicken, here we generated anti-chicken CSF1 antibodies (ROS-AV181 and 183) using CSF1-Fc as an immunogen.

Analysis of the Progeny of Sibling Matings Reveals Regulatory Variation Impacting the Transcriptome of Immune Cells in Commercial Chickens.

There is increasing recognition that the underlying genetic variation contributing to complex traits influences transcriptional regulation and can be detected at a population level as expression quantitative trait loci. At the level of an individual, allelic variation in transcriptional regulation of individual genes can be detected by measuring allele-specific expression in RNAseq data. We reasoned that extreme variants in gene expression could be identified by analysis of inbred progeny with shared grandparents.