Although Campylobacter is the leading cause of bacterial foodborne gastroenteritis in the world and the importance of poultry as a source of infection is well understood we know relatively little about its infection biology in the broiler chicken. Much of what we know about the biology of Campylobacter jejuni is based on infection of inbred or SPF laboratory lines of chickens with a small numbe...

The micromolar calcium-activated neutral protease gene (CAPN1) is a physiological candidate gene for meat tenderness. Four previously identified single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers located within the CAPN1 gene were evaluated for their associations with variation in the meat tenderness of a Chinese indigenous chicken breed, a higher meat quality breed (i.e., Qingyuan partridge chicken)...

The present study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity and relationships of 5 Egyptian indigenous strains (Fayoumi, Dokki-4, Golden Montazah, Silver Montazah, and El-Salam) using 10 random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. The gel analyses were performed using GelCompare II where the matrix was constructed followed by the cluster analysis for the matrices. Three hundre...

Dermal hyperpigmentation or Fibromelanosis (FM) is one of the few examples of skin pigmentation phenotypes in the chicken, where most other pigmentation variants influence feather color and patterning. The Silkie chicken is the most widespread and well-studied breed displaying this phenotype. The presence of the dominant FM allele results in extensive pigmentation of the dermal layer of skin an...

The Green-legged Partridgelike (GP) fowl, an old native Polish breed, is characterised by reseda green-coloured shanks rather than yellow, white, slate or black commonly observed across most domestic breeds of chicken. Here, we investigate the origin, genetic relationships and structure of the GP fowl using mtDNA D-loop sequencing and genome-wide SNP analysis. Genome-wide association analysis b...

This study aimed to screen single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the chicken gap junction protein alpha 1 (GJA1) gene, and to investigate their association with five growth traits measured in 269 chickens encompassing Chinese indigenous Beijing-You (BJY) and commercial Cobb broiler (CB) populations. Four variants were detected in the chicken GJA1 gene, in which one synonymous mutation was l...

The purpose of this study was to assess the genetic variation and establish the relationship amongst breeds and strains using 15 chicken specific microsatellite markers. A total of 285 unrelated DNA samples from four Korean native chicken strains (Black strain of Korean native chicken; KL, Red Brown strain of Korean native chicken; KR, Ogol strain of Korean native chicken; KS and Yellow Brown s...

In the wild, females choose males with potential good genes to increase their reproductive success in terms of attractive sons and, in the long run, more descendants. Whether this is true of domesticated species is yet uncertain. Our experiments demonstrate breed-specific mate choice among domesticated chickens. Sexually mature females of a traditional domestic chicken breed, White Crested Poli...