Breeding of genetically resistant chickens to Marek's disease (MD) is a vital strategy to poultry health. To find the markers underlying the genetic resistance to MD, copy number variation (CNV) was examined in inbred MD-resistant and -susceptible chicken lines. A total of 45 CNVs were found in four lines of chickens, and 28 were potentially involved in immune response and cell proliferation, etc. Importantly, two CNVs related with MD resistance were transmitted to descendent recombinant congenic lines that differ in susceptibility to MD. Our findings may lead to better strategies for genetic improvement of disease resistance in poultry.
Keywords: CNV; Marek’s disease; chicken; disease resistance.