Association of antibody response to SRBC and polymorphism in BLB2 gene in guinea fowl

The Single Strand Confirmation Polymorphism (SSCP) and PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) techniques were used to detect the polymorphism in b₁ domain of BLB2 gene in guinea fowl. A total of 76 guinea fowl birds were used. The antibody response to Sheep Red Blood Cells (as HA titre) were measured in all the 76 birds at 10 weeks of age and birds were categorized into Low, Medium and High HA titre groups. A total of 6 SSCP patterns were observed and out of these, Pattern III was predominantly present (0.308), followed by pattern V (0.220) and pattern IV (0.193). Preliminary association trends suggest that pattern II and IV might be associated with high antibody titre to SRBC, while pattern V seemed to be associated with low antibody titre to SRBC. The PCR-RFLP of 30 individuals in total i.e. 10 individuals each from low, medium and high antibody titre group with Hae III and Taq I restriction enzyme, though detected polymorphism within as well as between the HA titre groups, but no association could be established between PCR RFLP pattern and early body weight as well as antibody response to SRBC. The results are suggestive of polymorphism in BLB2 gene in guinea fowl.