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Title: IDENTIFICATION OF GENES AND PATHWAYS FOR RESISTANCE TO MAREK'S DISEASE THROUGH DNA MICROARRAYS

Author
item Liu, Hsiao Ching
item Cheng, Hans
item SOFER, LUC - UNIV OF DELAWARE
item BURNSIDE, JOAN - UNIV OF DELAWARE

Submitted to: International Marek's Disease Symposium Abstracts and Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/21/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Genetic resistance to Marek's disease (MD) is an attractive solution to augment vaccinal control. Our earlier studies indicate that there are many quantitative trait loci (QTL) containing one or more genes of significant effect that confer genetic resistance to MD. Unfortunately, it is difficult to resolve these QTL down to a size necessary to generate tightly linked markers to select the appropriate alleles. One possible solution is to identify positional candidate genes by virtue of gene expression differences between MD resistant and susceptible chickens using DNA microarrays followed by genetic mapping of the differentially-expressed genes. In this preliminary study, we show that DNA microarrays are able to detect differences in gene expression between the inbred ADOL lines 6 (MD resistant) and 7 (MD susceptible) in both uninfected and MDV-infected peripheral blood lymphocytes. The microarray data is consistent with previous literature on the action of immune-related genes suggesting that this technology is useful for developing testable hypotheses. Six of the 14 differentially-expressed genes were mapped and went to the predicted position indicating that this is a useful way to refine future lines of investigation. The potential and future challenges of this approach are discussed.