Pre-hatch sexing for chicken based on immuno-interrogation

早期性别鉴定对家禽生产至关重要，因为用于商业生产的现代鸡系的密集选择导致了高度分化的蛋鸡和肉鸡谱系。然而，孵化后的性别比例仍然约为1：1，由此导致的工业化产卵部门对雄性雏鸡的大规模扑杀引起了动物福利和伦理问题，法国和德国将很快禁止。因此，早期（孵化前）性别鉴定对这些国家的产业至关重要，并解决伦理/动物福利问题。家禽业是加拿大经济的主要贡献者，生产价值44亿加元的家禽产品，占农业经营现金收入的7.1%。加拿大鸡蛋生产业的目标是停止在孵化后杀死雄性小鸡的做法。在孵化前使用非侵入性或微创方法确定鸡胚性别是深入研究的焦点。在鸟类中，雄性和雌性基因型分别是ZZ和ZW;我们已经证明，通过使用从绒毛尿囊膜（CAM）收获的微量胚胎外组织检测W染色体上特异性编码的蛋白质的存在，可以预测鸡胚胎的性别（发明公开文件#UOTT.20.021; Ahmed和Hincke，背景知识产权）。本研究项目的目的是开发和验证一种免疫化学方法，通过检测在W染色体上编码的CAM特异性蛋白质的存在，在尽可能早的胚胎年龄，在卵中进行性别决定。该NSERC联盟提案由加拿大蛋农和加拿大家禽研究理事会共同资助，加拿大家禽和鸡蛋加工商理事会（CPEPC）也参与其中。

Early sex identification is crucial for poultry production, since intensive selection of modern chicken lines for commercial production has resulted in highly divergent layer and broiler pedigree lines. However, the sex ratio after hatching remains approximately 1:1 and the resulting large-scale culling of male chicks in the industrial egg laying sector raises animal welfare and ethical concerns, and will be banned soon in France and Germany. Therefore, early (pre-hatch) sex identification is essential for these national industries, and to address ethical / animal welfare issues. The poultry industry is a major contributor to Canada's economy, producing poultry products worth $4.4 billion and contributing 7.1% of cash receipts to farming operations. The Canadian egg production industry is aiming to discontinue the practice of killing male chicks after hatching. Determination of the chick embryo sex using non-invasive or minimally invasive approaches before hatching is the focus of intensive research. In birds, the male and female genotype is ZZ and ZW, respectively; we have demonstrated that the sex of a chicken embryo can be predicted by detecting the presence of proteins specifically encoded on the W chromosome, using minute amounts of extra-embryonic tissue harvested from the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) (Invention Disclosure file # UOTT.20.021; Ahmed and Hincke, background intellectual property). The objective of this research project will be to develop and validate an immunochemical approach to sex determination in ovo, by detecting the presence of CAM-specific protein(s) encoded on the W chromosome, at the earliest possible embryonic age. This NSERC Alliance proposal is jointly funded by Egg Farmers of Canada and the Canadian Poultry Research Council, with participation of the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council (CPEPC).