Six local chicken breeds are registered in Hungary and are regarded as Hungarian national treasures: Hungarian White, Yellow and Speckled, and Transylvanian Naked Neck White, Black and Speckled. Three Hungarian academic institutes have maintained these genetic resources for more than 30 years. The Hungarian Yellow, the Hungarian Speckled and the Transylvanian Naked Neck Speckled breeds were kept as duplicates in two separate subpopulations since time of formation of conservation flocks at different institutes. In this study, we investigated genetic diversity of these nine Hungarian chicken populations using 29 microsatellite markers. We assessed degree of polymorphism and relationships within and between Hungarian breeds on the basis of molecular markers, and compared the Hungarian chicken populations with commercial lines and European local breeds. In total, 168 alleles were observed in the nine Hungarian populations. The F(ST) estimate indicated that about 22% of the total variation originated from variation between the Hungarian breeds. Clustering using structure software showed clear separation between the Hungarian populations. The most frequent solutions were found at K = 5 and K = 6, respectively, classifying the Transylvanian Naked Neck breeds as a separate group of populations. To identify genetic resources unique to Hungary, marker estimated kinships were estimated and a safe set analysis was performed. We show that the contribution of all Hungarian breeds together to the total diversity of a given set of populations was lower when added to the commercial lines than when added to the European set of breeds.

In this study, we assessed the maternal origin of six Hungarian indigenous chicken breeds using mitochondrial DNA information. Sequences of Hungarian chickens were compared with the D-loop chicken sequences annotated in the GenBank and to nine previously described reference haplotypes representing the main haplogroups of chicken. The first 530 bases of the D-loop region were sequenced in 74 chickens of nine populations. Eleven haplotypes (HIC1-HIC11) were observed from 17 variable sites. Three sequences (HIC3,HIC8 and HIC9) of our chickens were found as unique to Hungary when searched against the NCBI GenBank database. Hungarian domestic chicken mtDNA sequences could be assigned into three clades and probably two maternal lineages. Results indicated that 86%of the Hungarian haplotypes are related to the reference sequence that likely originated from the Indian subcontinent, while the minor part of our sequences presumably derive from South East Asia, China and Japan.

The conservation of genetic resources of avian species has become increasingly important over the past decade. The aim of the present study was to develop a genome preservation technique for the Hungarian goose Anser anser domestica. To this end, we developed a novel approach combining the simplicity of isolating a blastodermal cell suspension, which includes forming primordial germ cells (PGCs), with the efficiency of targeting future gonads by injecting these cells into the cardiac vein of the developing host embryo. First, we determined that the migratory period of PGCs in goose embryos was between 69 and 84h of development. Then, we injected the blastodermal cell suspension into the bloodstream of recipient embryos at this stage of development and monitored donor cell transmission into the genital tract. In all, 249 embryos were injected; three were found to be chimeras in gonadal tissues, whereas only one was a chimera in other tissues. Based on these results, it is concluded that this method is suitable for producing chimeras in the domestic goose. The optimal time of cell injection was found to be between 74 and 76h. The present study is the first report of the generation of chimeras in the domestic goose using intracardiac transplantation of embryonic cells.