RFLP Patterns as a Measure of Diversity in Small Populations

鸡的研究提供了血清学和核酸探针，可用于确定其他鸟类物种的主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）。用于检测鸡和哺乳动物MHC内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内MHC多态性的程度。从与鸡的MHC的工作中获得的知识和专业知识，应在定义这些物种的MHC的多态性，并在检测这些鸟类的小野生和圈养种群的MHC基因库的多态性的快速进展。已知主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）内的基因编码为免疫系统识别外来抗原提供背景的分子。给定的动物是否能够对病原体的挑战产生免疫应答，部分取决于其MHC的等位基因组成。在许多物种中，在自由繁殖的群体中，MHC内的多个位点保持着异常高的多态性程度。一个群体中的等位基因库大概提供了多样性，在面对环境挑战时可以利用这些多样性。拟议研究的目的是将正在进行的家禽MHC研究扩展到包括种群规模严重减少的鸟类。群体内的MHC基因库和个体动物的单倍型的知识可能是有用的，在需要干预的物种，以保护他们的管理。

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.