Bf2 Gene in Red Jungle Fowl: an Important Gene Influencing Resistance to Diseases

Multimillion dollar poultry industry, always face the threats from emerging/ re-emerging poultry diseases. A major element of disease resistance is the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) and has regions i.e. B-F, B-L and B-G. BF2 is a predominantly expressed class I gene. Red jungle fowl (RJF) is the sole ancestor of all the present day chicken. The divergence between RJF and domestic chicken is presumed to have originated some 8000 years back. During the 8000 years, the chicken genome has undergone tremendous changes due to intentional selection. There is a general consensus among the animal breeders that many traits/alleles, especially related to adaptability are lost during intense selection. Hence, comparative genomic studies of the RJF and its present day domesticated descendents would answer many of these apprehensions on unequivocal terms. Hence, our aim is to characterize the BF2 gene in RJF.