Chicken IgY Monoclonal Antibody

The Avian immune system

Chickens, like mammals, have both humoral and cell mediated arms of the adaptive immune system. Birds have a unique hematopoietic organ; an outfolding of the cloaca called the Bursa of Fabricius. The Bursa of Fabricius is essential for normal B cell development and humoral immunity in birds. Precursor B cells have rearranged their immunoglobulin genes prior to entering the bursa. Compared to mouse, rat and human immune systems, the chicken contains a very limited number of variable genes. Instead, chickens use a process termed “gene conversion” to create antibody diversity, where the variable heavy and light chains are replaced with upstream pseudogenes, under a similar convergent mechanism as rabbit immunogenetics. While only one variable (V) light chain, one joining (J) light chain, one V heavy chain, one J heavy chain, and sixteen D heavy chains are initially available for gene rearrangement, approximately 25 V light and 80 V heavy pseudogenes can be inserted to create antibody diversity.