鸭主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）基因位点分析

主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）是动物适应性免疫系统的核心基因家族，与动物对许多疾病的抗性、易感性和动物生产性能有着密切关系，同时也是研究分子进化的模式基因。鸭是重要的农业经济禽类，在我国仅次于鸡的生产。近年来，鸭的诸多免疫学特性使其越来越受免疫学家的关注。比如，与鸡相比，鸭表现出对禽流感的较强抗性；同时，鸭可以携带很多病毒但不表现症状。对鸭展开深入的免疫遗传学研究是理解这些免疫学特点的基础。作为适应性免疫系统的重要基因家族，国际上目前对鸭MHC基因的了解远远落后于对鸡MHC的研究，因此，本研究将利用本实验室已有的鸭BAC文库，从基因组水平解析鸭MHC基因座位，对鸭MHC各类基因的数量、表达和多态性进行分析研究，为深入研究鸭的分子进化和分子育种提供重要的基础数据。

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a family of immune-related genes, which play essential roles in animal adaptive immunity. Most of these genes are polygenic and highly polymorphic. While MHC genes are related to host resistance and susceptibility to infections, and animal producibility, they are also the model genes for studying molecular evolution. Because of its distinct immunological characteristics, the duck is gradually becoming an important model animal, especially because of that ducks show obvious resistance to avian influenza as compared with chickens. It is highly interesting to understand the mechanisms behind. Currently, the duck MHC locus is less extensively studied than its chicken counterparts. We are planning to analyze the duck MHC gene locus based on the duck BAC library previously constructed in our laboratory. We will further study the number, expression and polymorphisms of the duck MHC genes. Hopefully, this study will provide significant insights into our understanding of molecular evolution of MHC genes in animals.