GENETIC STUDIES ON SERUM PROTEIN IN PHASIANIDAE

Abstract

Sera of domestic fowls (Gallus gallus var. domesticus), guinea fowls (Numida meleagris) and their hybrids were fractionized by electrophoresis, and their immunoelectrophoretic patterns were used as the standard criteria for the interspecific comparisons. The concentration of serum proteins of 53.5 [plus or minus] 6.4 mg/ml was estimated in domestic fowls and that of 37.0 [plus or minus] 1.4 mg/ml in guinea fowls. Serum of domestic fowls was separated into 12 fractions. Except for the fractions in a-region and gamma-region, the fractions in domestic fowl serum were similar to those in guinea fowl serum. The components which exhibited the uncommon characteristics in [alpha]-region and gamma-region were identified as [alpha]1-lipoprotein and immunoglobulin-G (IgG), respectively. The IgG of domestic fowls contains all determinant groups required for the combination with anti-domestic fowl serum, while the IgG of guinea fowls lacks some of these determinant groups.