摘要 : The avian Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is the only gene locus with a proved industrial significance and is the key to the commercial success of the poultry-farming. Nevertheless it is not completely understood although d... 展开 The avian Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is the only gene locus with a proved industrial significance and is the key to the commercial success of the poultry-farming. Nevertheless it is not completely understood although during the last decades considerable progress has been made. Most of the immunologically related phenomena or functions which are known for H-2 alleles are now known for the chicken MHC. These include the determination of serologically detectable antigens, histocompatibilityantigens, immune responses, serum proteins, resistance to virus-induced malignancy and cell-cell interactions. The finding that all these immunological functions are grouped together in close linkage disequilibrium in species as diverse as chickens, mice and humans, as well as the striking homologies among MHC antigens of these species strongly favours the view that MHCs evolved and persisted in association with some functional advantages to the species. 收起