The Quantitative Effects of the B Blood Group Locus and Sex Linked Histocompatibility Antigen in Chickens on G-v-H Reaction

Abstract

The major histocompatibility locus in the chicken is the B locus with a minor histocompatibility antigen controlled by a gene (s) on the W chromosome. This study was designed to determine the quantitative effects of the B locus and the sex linked histocompatibility gene on splenomegaly of chick embryos after inoculation with adult male lymphocytes. The embryos and male lymphocyte donors had blood group genotypes designed B9/B9, B9/B11 so that nine donor-host combinations were used. When the donor and host were homozygous for different B alleles (B9 and B11) or different by one B allele (B9 or B11) the splenomegaly was 4 and 2 times greater, respectively, than the compatible donor and host. A greater splenomegaly was produced in male to female injections than in male to male injections. However, the histocompatibility antigen controlled by a gene(s) on the W chromosome was weaker than the controlled by the B locus.

Immunocompetences in Two Pairs of B Congenic Chicken Lines.

“…In this study, heterotic effects of the MHC haplotypes for IgM and IgG production were observed. YAMAMOTO (1981) and OKADA and MIKAMI (1974) demonstrated the influence of sexlinked genes in the GVH reaction. However, OKADA and YAMAMOTO (1987) did not found significant sex differences in their experiment, but the SI values were higher in the female donors than the male donors.…”