BLNK is an adaptor protein that functions in B-cell receptor signalling, and is vitally necessary at signalling checkpoints of mammalian B-cell development. However, its importance to avian B-cell development remains unclear. To explore the function of BLNK in chickens, shRNA-mediated RNA interference was delivered to a chicken B-cell line in vitro by replication-competent avian retrovirus (RCAS), and effective shRNA were determined. To observe an shRNA phenotype on chicken B-cell development, we simultaneously explored whether RCAS penetrance was correlated between red blood cells (RBC) and bursal B-cells by infecting chicken embryos with RCAS expressing a fluorescent tag. We found that RCAS penetrance was correlated between RBC and B-cells, which provides a system to observe any in vivo effects of BLNK shRNA on B-cell development. Furthermore, this system for observing BLNK function may be complemented by genetically-modified BLNK, particularly variants resistant to RNA interference.

BLNK is an adaptor protein that functions in B-cell receptor signalling, and is vitally necessary at signalling checkpoints of mammalian B-cell development. However, its importance to avian B-cell development remains unclear. To explore the function of BLNK in chickens, shRNA-mediated RNA interference was delivered to a chicken B-cell line in vitro by replication-competent avian retrovirus (RCAS), and effective shRNA were determined. To observe an shRNA phenotype on chicken B-cell development, we simultaneously explored whether RCAS penetrance was correlated between red blood cells (RBC) and bursal B-cells by infecting chicken embryos with RCAS expressing a fluorescent tag. We found that RCAS penetrance was correlated between RBC and B-cells, which provides a system to observe any in vivo effects of BLNK shRNA on B-cell development. Furthermore, this system for observing BLNK function may be complemented by genetically-modified BLNK, particularly variants resistant to RNA interference.

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