Attempts at Hybridization of Chickens and Turkeys which are Tolerant of Each Others' Antigens

Abstract

IN a recent communication in Nature, Simonsen¹ described experiments which showed that injection of turkey blood into chick embryos both delayed the appearance of natural agglutinins and suppressed the formation of immune agglutinins when the young birds were injected with turkey blood some weeks after hatching. Moreover, turkeys injected as embryos with chicken blood proved to be susceptible to infection with Rous sarcoma virus at an age by which this species is normally resistant to it. Tests relating to his third purpose, namely, to see whether a sexual cross between species, which is not normally possible, could be made so by acquired tolerance, are summarized here. They do not, however, provide any evidence that the tolerant birds were more able to produce hybrid offspring than normal ones. Both Warren and Scott² and Quinn, Burrows and Byerly³ obtained at least slight development in a proportion of the eggs in both reciprocal crosses between normal turkeys and chickens, although only about 1 per cent of the chicken eggs proved fertile.