Prague inbred lines of chickens represent a unique system of MHC(B) congenic partners differing in the immune-based resistance/susceptibility to v-src-induced oncogenesis. Mapping in chickens can be facilitated by the availability of inbred lines, since many well described differences in disease susceptibility and MHC(B) haplotypes exist among the defined lines. Long-term intensive research on human, mouse, and rat MHC has established a canonical picture of this multigene complex. The chicken MHC(B) is clearly the best characterized outside the mammals and it was the first MHC clearly different from the paradigmatic structure of the above mentioned mammalian species. Chickens were in many aspects the poor relatives of mice, and they had to wait for introduction of molecular biology methods. But, when it happened, the newly gained data could be easily reconciled with classical genetic studies using available congenic chicken lines. We have established permanent tumor cell lines from ex vivo tumors induced by the LTR, v-src, LTR provirus in inbred chickens. These cells express a high level of the v-src oncogene and are of defined MHC(B) genotype. We witness a dramatic acceleration of the development of chicken (avian) genomics. The chicken is not only a good comparative model for basic science, but it is also an object of the poultry industry, which is threatened by several avian diseases. The reason for genome mapping in chickens is thus more than academic.

Institute of Molecular Genetics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague

Knock-Out of Retrovirus Receptor Gene Tva in the Chicken Confers Resistance to Avian Leukosis Virus Subgroups A and K and Affects Cobalamin (Vitamin B12)-Dependent Level of Methylmalonic Acid

Precise CRISPR/Cas9 editing of the NHE1 gene renders chickens resistant to the J subgroup of avian leukosis virus

Avian Expression Patterns and Genomic Mapping Implicate Leptin in Digestion and TNF in Immunity, Suggesting That Their Interacting Adipokine Role Has Been Acquired Only in Mammals

The Current View of Retroviruses as Seen from the Shoulders of a Giant

Male fertility restored by transplanting primordial germ cells into testes: a new way towards efficient transgenesis in chicken

Genetic Diversity of NHE1, Receptor for Subgroup J Avian Leukosis Virus, in Domestic Chicken and Wild Anseriform Species

Inhibition of autoimmune Chagas-like heart disease by bone marrow transplantation

Nonconserved tryptophan 38 of the cell surface receptor for subgroup J avian leukosis virus discriminates sensitive from resistant avian species

Intronic deletions that disrupt mRNA splicing of the tva receptor gene result in decreased susceptibility to infection by avian sarcoma and leukosis virus subgroup A

A single-amino-acid substitution in the TvbS1 receptor results in decreased susceptibility to infection by avian sarcoma and leukosis virus subgroups B and D and resistance to infection by subgroup E in vitro and in vivo

Deletions in the DNA-binding domain of the TP53 gene in v-src-transformed chicken cells