A molecular study on genetic structure of interleukin 2 in Khorasan native chicken

Control of diseases is one of the concerns in poultry industry worldwide. Despite the use of proper vaccines, antibiotics and sanitation in poultry farms, still disease outbreaks make irreparable economical loss. Another effective way of increasing the resistance of poultry to diseases is the genetic improvement of the immune system, which can reduce the current cost of taking vaccine and medicine. Considering the importance of IL-2 in the immune system, the present study was conducted to investigate the structure of IL-2 gene in Khorasan native chickens. To conduct this research, 20 DNA samples from Khorasan native chickens were used to amplify and sequence of 875-base pairs from the IL-2 gene. Comparison of the sequences obtained from the Khorasan native chickens with the sequence deposited in the NCBI showed mutations in the IL-2 gene, so that these mutations in the exon 1 region altered the amino acids. Exon mutations at 733, 738, 744 and 794 base pairs made to replace adenine bases instead of cytosine, thymine instead of adenine, adenine instead of cytosine, and thymine instead of cytosine. Identifying these mutations can allow them to be used as a genetic marker. To confirm this, we need to investigate the frequency of mutations and also examine their effect on IL-2 performance through proteomics experiments.