The Ovo gene family encodes a group of evolutionarily conserved transcription factors and includes members that reside downstream of key developmental signaling pathways such as Wg/Wnt and BMP/TGF-beta. In the current study, we explore the function of Ovol2, one of three Ovo paralogues in mice. We report that Ovol2 is expressed during early-mid embryogenesis, particularly in the inner cell mass...

Following in vitro- and in ovo-exposure of chicken embryo cells, the level of bleomycin (BM)-induced damage was evaluated by using DNA synthesis, nucleoid sedimentation (SED), and viscometry of alkaline cell lysates (VISC). This damage was compared to X-irradiation, using 5.9-378 nM BM in vitro, 1.5-116 micrograms BM/egg in ovo, and 2-32 Gy, respectively, in vitro as well as in ovo. With respec...

Campylobacter jejuni is the main cause of bacterial food-borne diseases in developed countries. Chickens are the most important source of human infection. Vaccination of poultry is an attractive strategy to reduce the number of C. jejuni in the intestinal tract of chickens. We investigated the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a recombinant C. jejuni flagellin-based subunit vaccine with...

The aim of the research was to determine the efficiency of in ovo immunisation of turkeys against the haemorrhagic enteritis virus, while simultaneously applying a synthetic immunomodulator – methisoprinol – by the same route of administration. Dindoral SPF vaccine, in a dose of 0.1 ml of the solution prepared ex tempore after dissolving the vaccine in 100 ml of water for injection, and methiso...

A total of 420 fertile broiler eggs (Cobb) with uniform egg weight were collected and divided into three groups: non-injected control, injected control (0.5 ml of 0.9% normal saline) and arginine (0.5 ml of 0.5% arginine); and injected on 18 day (d) of incubation into amnion. On the 21 d, 108 chicks were randomly selected from each treatment totaling to 324 chicks. The hatchability, hatch weigh...

A serum-free organ culture model for chondrocyte maturation, using the Avian sternum, was developed. Day-14 chick embryo sterna were placed in organ culture in the presence of defined medium. The optimal medium for chondrocyte terminal differentiation contained specific concentrations of dexamethasone, insulin, thyroid hormone and ascorbic acid. Three parameters, including sternal growth, cell ...

INTRODUCTIONIn ovo RNA interference (RNAi) is a method for silencing a gene of interest using a combination of in ovo injection and electroporation in avian embryos. Here we describe gene silencing in the developing spinal cord, but the procedure can easily be adapted to other parts of the nervous system. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) derived from the gene of interest is injected into the develop...

Provenance is a term used to describe the history, lineage or origins of a piece of data. In scientific experiments that are computationally intensive the data resources are produced in large-scale. Thus, as more scientific data are produced the importance of tracking and sharing its metadata grows. Therefore, it is desirable to make it easy to access, share, reuse, integrate and reason. To add...

Regeneration involves precise control of cell fate to produce an appropriate complement of tissues formed within a blastema. Several chromatin-modifying complexes have been identified as required for regeneration in planarians, but it is unclear whether this class of molecules uniformly promotes the production of differentiated cells. We identify a function for p66, encoding a DNA-binding prote...

The mammalian neocortex is a remarkable structure that is characterized by tangential surface expansion and six-layered lamination. However, how the mammalian neocortex emerged during evolution remains elusive. Because all modern reptiles have a homolog of the neocortex at the dorsal pallium, developmental analyses of the reptilian cortex are valuable to explore the origin of the neocortex. How...