Correlation in chicken between the marker LEI0258 alleles and Major Histocompatibility Complex sequences.

Background: The LEI0258 marker is located within the B region of the chicken Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), and is surprisingly well associated with serology. Therefore, the correlation between the LEI0258 alleles and the MHC class I and the class II alleles at the level of sequences is worth investigating in chickens. Here we describe to which extent the LEI0258 alleles are associated with alleles of classical class I genes and non-classical class II genes, in reference animals as well as local breeds with unknown MHC haplotypes.

Methods: For the class I region, in an exploratory project, we studied 10 animals from 3 breeds: Rhode Island Red, White Leghorn and Fayoumi chickens, by cloning and sequencing B-F1 and B-F2 cDNA from exon 1 to 3'UTR. For the class II region, we reconstructed haplotypes of the 8.8 kb genomic region encompassing three non-classical class II genes: B-DMA, B-DMB1 and B-DMB2, for 146 animals from more than 50 breeds including wild species of jungle fowls.

Results: Overall we found that the LEI0258 marker genotypes gave good indications of the MHC haplotypes, and a very good predictions (>0.95) of the heterozygosity of an animal at the MHC locus.

Conclusions: Our results show that the LEI0258 alleles are strongly associated with haplotypes of classical class I genes and non-classical class II genes, unravelling the reasons why this marker is becoming the reference marker for MHC genotyping in chickens.