To protect the germ line genome, chickens acquire new small RNA-based immune defense in response to recently endogenized retroviruses by turning a truncated provirus into a weapon.
Rosa Rugani, Giorgio Vallortigara ... Lucia Regolin
Spatial numerical association in three-day-old domestic chicks linearly decreases as numerical magnitude increases (2>5>8), supporting the hypothesis that numerical magnitude guides the spatial numerical association.
A molecular atlas of the chick retina provides a comprehensive classification and characterization of 136 cell types, yielding novel insights into retinal structure, function, development, and evolution.
Chick optic fissure closure is a powerful new model system for epithelial fusion and has revealed Netrin-1 as a conserved and essential mediator of tissue fusion in multiple contexts.
Eszter Szabó, Cinzia Chiandetti ... Giorgio Vallortigara
Without specific training, young chicks represent the absence of objects, showing that the concept of 'nothing' is available to nonhuman animals and does not require linguistic tools, such as negation.
A simple cryopreservation method using chicken eggs will be a valuable tool to safeguard genetic diversity and conserve the 1600 local breeds of chicken on the planet.
Paul E Chappell, El Kahina Meziane ... Jim Kaufman
The number of different peptides presented by major histocompatibility complex class I molecules to the immune system's T lymphocytes is inversely correlated with cell surface expression and is strongly associated with the response to infectious disease.