Recent Progress in Avian Leptin Research

Abstract

Because the evidence on existence of the genuine avian leptin gene has been revealed in several birds, debate about the existence of avian leptin will finally stop. Over the past 15 years, many researchers struggled to find avian leptin as well as to determine physiological roles of leptin in birds. During these processes, orthologue of leptin receptor (LEPR) has been identified in several birds and of which function was also deeply investigated.This review summarizes over a decade of research on avian leptin to integrate knowledge toward future advance of this field after finding the authentic leptin in bird.