Mallard duck in flight
WIKIMEDIA, BERT DE TILLY
Species: Mallard duck, Anas platyrhynchos
Genome size: ~ 13 billion bases pairs
The duck is a known natural host of nearly all influenza A virus subtypes (including H5N1). Researchers have now sequenced the whole genome of a female duck from Beijing. Comparisons of the duck’s sequence to those of other birds and mammals indicates that, like chickens and zebrafinches, the duck harbors nearly half as many immune-related genes as do mammals.
Researchers also performed deep transcriptome analysis to identify genes that are responsive to bird flu viruses. For the most part, the duck does not show symptoms following infection with the influenza virus. The research team found a highly diverse set of beta-defensin genes in the duck, which may explain the waterfowl’s viral defense mechanisms. ...
