Skin Transplants between Embryos of Different Breeds of Fowl

Abstract

Small pieces (0.5 by 1 mm.) of skin ectoderm stripped from the head of chick embryos of approximately 75 hrs.'' incubation were transplanted to the limb bud regions of host embryos of similar ages. Development was continued until about the 15th day when the down feathers are fully formed. S. C. White Leghorn, Rhode Island Red, and Black Fi embryos of the cross Rhode Island Red [male] X Barred Rock $ were used for both hosts and donors. White hosts receiving black skin grafts show irregular shaped patches of black down feathers often including the entire wing or leg and adjacent regions of back and breast. The position and extent of the colored areas depends upon the site and size of the implant. The reciprocal expts.[long dash]white donor to black host[long dash]have all yielded negative results. Grafts of the entire limb bud have behaved similarly as regards feather color. In both cases the extra limb develops. Red skin grafted to white hosts produces patches of reddish down as in the case of the black. The few reciprocals recovered have so far also been negative. The mosaic structure of the feathers at the margins of the colored areas suggests that the patches of color arise by growth of the implant rather than from cell invasion or the production of diffusible chemical substances. The feather form and tract pattern are definitely detd. by the position in the body of the host. The color of the feather, on the contrary, is autonomous in its development.