RFLP Patterns as a Measure of Diversity in Small Populations

对鸡的研究为确定其他鸟类的主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）提供了有用的血清学和核酸探针。用于检测鸡和哺乳动物MHC基因座遗传多样性的方法将被应用于确定环颈雉、野生火鸡、鹤、安第斯秃鹰和其他物种的小种群的MHC多态性程度。从鸡的MHC工作中获得的知识和专业知识将有助于在确定这些物种的MHC多态性以及检测这些鸟类的小型野生和圈养种群的MHC基因库多态性方面取得快速进展。已知主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）内的基因编码分子，为免疫系统识别外来抗原提供背景。特定动物是否能够对病原体的挑战产生免疫反应，部分取决于其MHC的等位基因组成。在许多物种中，在自由繁殖的种群中，MHC内的多个位点保持着异常高度的多态性。在面对环境挑战时，一个种群内的等位基因库可能提供了多样性。拟议研究的目的是扩展正在进行的家禽MHC研究，以包括种群规模严重减少的鸟类。了解种群内的MHC基因库和单个动物的单倍型可能对需要干预以保护物种的养殖有用。

Studies of chickens have provided serological and nucleic acid probes useful in defining the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in other avian species. Methods used in detecting genetic diversity at loci within the MHC of chickens and mammals will be applied to determining the extent of MHC polymorphism within small populations of ring-necked pheasants, wild turkeys, cranes, Andean condors and other species. The knowledge and expertise gained from working with the MHC of the chicken should make for rapid progress in defining the polymorphism of the MHC in these species and in detecting the polymorphism of MHC gene pool within small wild and captive populations of these birds. Genes within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are known to encode molecules that provide the context for recognition of foreign antigens by the immune system. Whether a given animal is able to mount an immune response to the challenge of a pathogen is determined, in part, by the allelic makeup of its MHC. In many species, an unusually high degree of polymorphism is maintained at multiple loci within the MHC in freely breeding populations. The allelic pool within a population presumably provides diversity upon which to draw in the face of environmental challenge. The objective of the proposed research is to extend ongoing studies of the MHC of domesticated fowl to include avian species experiencing severe reduction in population size. Knowledge of the MHC gene pool within populations and of the haplotypes of individual animals may be useful in the husbandry of species requiring intervention for their preservation.