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Browsing by Author "Taylor, Robert L."

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    Association of MHCY genotypes in lines of chickens divergently selected for high or low antibody response to sheep red blood cells
    Zhang, Jibin; Goto, Ronald M.; Honaker, Christa F.; Siegel, Paul B.; Taylor, Robert L.; Parmentier, Henk K.; Miller, Marcia M. (Elsevier, 2022-03)
    The chicken MHCY region contains members of several gene families including a family of highly polymorphic MHC class I genes that are structurally distinct from their classical class I gene counterparts. Genetic variability at MHCY could impart variability in immune responses, but robust tests for whether or not this occurs have been lacking. Here we defined the MHCY genotypes present in 2 sets of chicken lines selected for high or low antibody response, the Virginia Tech (VT) HAS and LAS, and the Wageningen University (WU) HA and LA lines. Both sets were developed under long-term bidirectional selection for differences in antibody responses following immunization with the experimental antigen sheep red blood cells. Lines in which selection was relaxed (VT HAR and LAR) or lacking (WU C) provided controls. We looked for evidence of association between MHCY genotypes and antibody titers. Chickens were typed for MHCY using a recently developed method based on a multilocus short tandem repeat sequence found across MHCY haplotypes. Five MHCY haplotypes were found segregating in the VT HAS and LAS lines. One haplotype was present only in HAS chickens, and another was present only in LAS chickens with distribution of the remaining 3 haplotypes differing significantly between the lines. In the WU HA and LA lines, there was a similar MHCY asymmetry. The control populations lacked similar asymmetries. These observations support the likelihood of MHCY genetics affecting heritable antibody responses and provide a basis for further investigations into the role of MHCY region genes in guiding immune responses in chickens.
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    Future Farmers of Virginia Chapter Chats May 1938
    Baker, Joe; Leach, William; Yeakley, James; Harper, Richard; Yeatts, Archie; Wortman Jr., Sidney F.; Yates, J. Irving; Tolley, Hunter; Green, Jesse C.; Gardner, Charles; Green, Stephen; Niswander, Eugene; Yeakley, James; Payne, Cecil; Layman, William; Taylor, Robert L.; Francis, Jimmie; Bailey, Allen; Deale, James; Cash, Adrian; Wright, Willie; Kercheval, Harvey; Diggs, Churchill; Ferrell, Buddie; Landram, Ralph; Covington, Edward; Wisman, Everett; Gregory, Jr., D. M.; Wilson, Jack; Fullerton, Jr., John; Bower, Dewayne; Hutchinson, Andrew; Heflin, David (The Future Farmers of Virginia, 1938-05)
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    Growth of White Leghorn Chicken Immune Organs after Long-Term Divergent Selection for High or Low Antibody Response to Sheep Red Blood Cells
    Honaker, Christa F.; Taylor, Robert L.; Edens, Frank W.; Siegel, Paul B. (MDPI, 2024-05-17)
    Long-term divergent selection from a common founder population for a single trait—antibody response to sheep erythrocytes 5 days post-injection—has resulted in two distinct lines of White Leghorn chickens with a well-documented difference in antibody titers: high (HAS)- and low (LAS)-antibody selected lines. Subpopulations—high (HAR)- and low (LAR)-antibody relaxed—were developed from generation 24 of the selected lines to relax selection. The objective of the current experiment was to determine if this long-term selection and relaxation of selection impacted the growth of two organs important to chicken immunity: the spleen and the bursa of Fabricius. Spleens and bursae were obtained from ten chickens per line at nine timepoints (E18, D0, D6, D13, D20, D35, D49, D63, and D91) throughout their rapid growth phase and presented as a percent of body weight. Significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. For the spleen, all lines consistently increased in size relative to body weight to D49, followed by a consistent decline. All lines had a similar growth pattern, but HAS spleens grew faster than LAS spleens. For the bursa, LAS was smaller than the other three lines as an embryo and also smaller than HAS through D63. In the selected lines, bursa weight peaked at D35, whereas the relaxed lines peaked at D49. By D91, there was no difference between lines. Artificial and natural selection, represented by the long-term selected and relaxed antibody lines, resulted in differences in the growth patterns and relative weights of the spleen and bursa of Fabricius.