Investigation of the relationship between exon 2 of MHC-DMB2 polymorphism and humoral immune response in Japanese quail

The DMB2 gene is one of the MHC cluster genes that plays a role in the humoral immune response. This study was performed to identify the polymorphism of exon 2 of the MHC-DMB2 gene and its association with the humoral immune response in Japanese quail. For this purpose, on day 28, 0.2 mL of 5% saline suspension of sheep red blood cell (SRBC) was injected into 130 quail's breast muscle (65 males and 65 females). Seven days later, cervical vein blood sampling was performed on the 35th day. Afterward, the anti-SRBC titer antibody was determined using a micro hemagglutination technique. Also, genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples and a 333bp fragment of exon 2 was amplified using polymerase chain reaction and PCR products were digested by Hinf 1 restriction enzyme. The results showed that there were two types of C (333bp) and G (226, 107bp) alleles in this region with a frequency of 74.6% and 26.4% in the whole population, respectively. The results indicate high polymorphism and high homozygosity in the studied population. In addition, the results showed that genotype had a significant effect on antibody titers (P<0.01). The CC genotype showed the highest total antibody titer (2.13 mg/dL) and the GG genotype showed the lowest total antibody titer (0.33 mg/dL). It is suggested that the negative effects of this single nucleotide polymorphism be considered in breeding programs.