Association of Chicken Mx1 Polymorphisms with Susceptibility in Chicken Embryos Challenged with Virulent Newcastle Disease Virus

Abstract

Background and Objective: Genetic selection of chicken genotypes that are less susceptible to Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a promising option. The present study aimed to investigate polymorphism of chicken Mx1 gene G2032A SNP in different chicken breeds in Tanzania and association with chicken embryos susceptibility to virulent NDV. Materials and Methods: A total of 355 (87 Sasso, 129 Kuroiler and 139 local) 16 days old chicken embryos were infected with 0.1 mL minimum lethal dose (103/0.1 mL) of virulent NDV suspension. The time of death was recorded and selective genotyping was deployed where chicken embryos from high (15%) and less (15%) susceptible cohorts were genotyped by PCR-length polymorphism. Two forward and a reverse primers were used to generate 2 different sizes of PCR product of A and G alleles of chicken Mx1 gene G2032A SNP. Results: As expected chicken embryos survival was highly variable within a breed. The frequency of allele A was higher than allele G in chicken breeds. Furthermore, using Pearson’s X2 test of independence, it was demonstrated that chicken Mx1 gene G2032A genotypes (AA, AG and GG) were associated (p<0.05) with chicken embryos susceptibility to virulent NDV infection. The frequency of genotype AA was higher in less susceptible chicken embryos, whereas, frequency of genotype GG and AG was higher in high susceptible chicken embryos. Conclusion: Results from the present study provide valuable information on the potential role of Mx1 gene polymorphism for selection of chickens that are resistant to virulent NDV infection.