Myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) is an adaptor protein involved in the interleukin-1 receptor- and Toll-like receptor-induced activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB). A novel isoform of chicken MyD88, designated chicken MyD88-2, has been cloned and functionally characterized. Its open reading frame is of length 900bp, and it encodes a predicted 299 residue protein, similar in length to its mammalian orthologues, but, respectively, 77 and 69 amino acids shorter than the previously described chicken MyD88-1 and -3. The amino acid sequence of chicken MyD88-2 displays 96.9%, 96.9%, 70.4% and 70.2% identity with, respectively, chicken MyD88-1, -3, human and mouse MyD88. Chicken MyD88-2 expression was detected in a range of tissues tested, but no expression of either chicken MyD88-1 or -3 was observed. The over-expression of chicken MyD88-2 significantly induced the activation of NF-kappaB in vitro, suggesting that chicken MyD88-2 plays an important role in the innate immune responses of chicken.