| Research Abstract |
In order to rescue the endangered species, and production and preservation of variable breeds in bird, interspecific transfers of primoridal germ cells (PGCs) have been performed. We developed the protocol to obtain a large amount of PGCs from gonads of chicken and quail embryos using PGC specific monoclonal antibodies (anti-SSEA1 and QCR1) and magnetism activated cell sorting (MACS). MACS treatment greatly increased the population ratio of avian PGCs in gonadal cells, resulting improved gonadal migration in recipient embryos. We have worked toward practical use of PCR and in situ hybridization to identify the species specific cell (genome) type among chickens, quail and blue-breasted quail. PGCs of chick embryos were transferred into quail embryos, and the chicken-genome-specific PCR product was observed in the semen of chick-PGC-transferred chimeric quail. We made a progeny test. Females of the putative chimeras were artificially inseminated with chicken semen. We obtained hatchlings but PCR analysis showed that they were hybrid between chicken sperm and donor derived quail ovum. Silky PGCs were introduced to White Leghorn chickens and the prpgeny test is underway.
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