Association of Marek’s Disease with Ea-B and Immune Response Genes in Subline and F2 Populations of the Iowa State S1 Leghorn Line

Abstract Chickens from the Iowa State S1 White Leghorn line, selected for characteristics of Ea-B serotype, humoral immune response to glutamic acid-alanine-tyrosine (Ir-GAT), and response to Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)-induced tumors, were evaluated for genetic resistance to Marek’s disease (MD). In the first two trials, sublines that were triple homozygous for the three traits were challenged with MD virus. Birds of the B1B1 blood type were significantly (P