Immunogenetics of the A-E alloantigen complex

Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115, USA.

The close linkage (0.5%) between the A and E erythrocyte alloantigen loci present a special challenge in the production of locus-specific typing antisera. The objective of the investigation was to determine immunogenetically the A-E haplotypes (genetically linked combinations of A and E antigens) existing in the locally maintained individuals of the New Hampshire (NH) and White Plymouth Rock (WR) breeds. The A and E alloantigens in these populations were identified using reference antisera previously produced in White Leghorns. A total of four A-E haplotypes were identified within each of the two breeds; A2E1, A6E2, A6E4, and A8E2 in WR and A2E1, A3E7, A7E4, and A8E2 in NH. Individuals of these two brown-egg breeds were backcrossed over several generations to a line of Ancona chickens homozygous at the A and E loci. Genetic segregation occurring over four generations resulted in nonrecombinant and recombinant progeny that were immunized reciprocally with the blood of siblings to raise antibodies reactive with the individual A and E antigens of the NH and WR stocks. The antisera resulting from the within-family alloimmunizations confirmed the haplotypes deduced in the WR and NH lines from the initial tests with the A and E reference antisera.