Proceedings, 10 World Congress of Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Major Histocompatibility Complex Plays a Role in Survival Kinetics of Chicken Infected by Marek's Disease Virus

Chickens from a Brown Leghorn line were challenged with Marek’s Disease Virus (MDV). Mortality and all visceral and nerve lesions were daily recorded. Three Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) haplotypes were characterized using genetic markers from the MHC-B region. MHC had a significant effect on the kinetics of mortality from MDV, one genotype being associated with an earlier death. Survival analysis showed a significant difference between the birds dying with or without visceral lesions, animals without visceral lesion (but with or without nerve lesions) dying less and later. Heritability of survival time was estimated to be 0.41, indicating potential for genetic improvement. Further analysis should refine the economic interest of using MHC as genetic markers to select for improved resistance to MDV and explore further polymorphisms associated with resistance mechanisms using a survival analysis associated with visceral lesion recording.