Krkavcová Eva, Kreisinger Jakub, Hyánková Ludmila, Hyršl Pavel, Javůrková Veronika
Department of Zoology, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 44, Prague, Czech Republic.
Department of Genetics and Breeding of Farm Animals, VÚŽv.v.i., Přátelství 815, 104 00, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic.
Biol Open. 2018 Apr 9;7(4):bio031518. doi: 10.1242/bio.031518.
Avidin is a key egg white antimicrobial protein with strong binding capacity for biotin, an essential growth and immune cell precursor. As such, it is assumed to have a pronounced, though still poorly explored, effect on hatchling phenotype. We tested the effect of experimentally increased egg white avidin concentration (AVIDIN+) on hatching success, chick morphology, post-hatching growth performance and innate immune function in a model bird, Japanese quail (). Probability of embryo survival in the late embryonic phase increased with increasing egg weight in control eggs, but not in AVIDIN+ eggs. Chicks hatching from lighter AVIDIN+ eggs had a shorter tarsus than chicks hatching from heavier AVIDIN+ eggs. This suggests that an increase in egg white avidin favours embryo survival in lighter eggs during late embryogenesis, but at the expense of reduced structural body size. Plasma complement activity in 6-day-old AVIDIN+ chicks decreased with increasing body mass and tarsus length; the opposite was observed in control chicks, implying that the later post-hatching innate immune function of larger chicks was compromised by an increase in egg white avidin concentration. Here, we document an important role of egg white antimicrobials in maintenance of embryo viability, avian hatchling morphology and immune phenotype.
抗生物素蛋白是一种关键的蛋清抗菌蛋白，对生物素具有很强的结合能力，生物素是一种重要的生长和免疫细胞前体。因此，人们认为它对雏鸟表型有显著影响，尽管这方面仍未得到充分研究。我们在一种模式鸟类日本鹌鹑中测试了实验性增加蛋清抗生物素蛋白浓度（AVIDIN+）对孵化成功率、雏鸡形态、孵化后生长性能和先天免疫功能的影响。对照蛋中，胚胎在胚胎后期的存活概率随蛋重增加而增加，但在AVIDIN+蛋中并非如此。从较轻的AVIDIN+蛋孵化出的雏鸡比从较重的AVIDIN+蛋孵化出的雏鸡跗跖骨更短。这表明蛋清抗生物素蛋白的增加有利于胚胎在胚胎后期在较轻的蛋中存活，但代价是身体结构尺寸减小。6日龄AVIDIN+雏鸡的血浆补体活性随体重和跗跖骨长度增加而降低；对照雏鸡中观察到相反的情况，这意味着蛋清抗生物素蛋白浓度的增加会损害较大雏鸡孵化后的先天免疫功能。在此，我们证明了蛋清抗菌物质在维持胚胎活力、雏鸟形态和免疫表型方面的重要作用。
