I am working on post-copulatory sexual selection in birds, and I would like to assess egg fertilization success. Visual inspection of the yolk does not allow to distinguish between non-fertilization and very early death of the embryo, and fluorescent coloration of the germinal disc and the perivitelline layer does not always provide reliable results. So I am looking for an alternative method.
Is anyone aware of a molecular/genetic technique to distinguish non-fertilized eggs from early embryonic death which could be applied to birds?
Dear Pauline,
This is just development of your idea: in the case of early embryonic death must be some amount of DNA from the father in the yolk, so if you confirm this by any molecular method you can distinguish between unfertilized eggs and early embryonic death. But it could be tricky due to costs, risk of contamination, may be not worth doing so. I would treat all cases of early embryonic death and unfertilized eggs as one category and perhaps compare it with some kind of average amount of such eggs in control groups.
I don't know in birds but, in the frog, it's easy to see the second polar body. Have you tried that, Pauline?
I do not have any answer for your question since I have never used such early stages of embryos for my ever-done experiments. Tateki Kikuchi
Bird eggs "Candling" - (ovoscope) will differentiate a non fertilized egg from fertilized egg.
To find out if the embryo is viable or not - immerse the egg in a deep bowl of water at 100F - if the embryo is viable it will bob up and down. If non viable it will sink.
Sorry this is not molecular/genetic level but a practical way. Though I don't deal with aviary
Worth to get in touch with Dr Nicola Hemmings at the University of Sheffield (UK) in prof Tim Birkhead's groups. I'd guess she'd be able to help you further.
The practical classification for embryonic mortility in chicken are : during the first week , 2nd week , 3rd week , using visiable embryonic development with low economic cost , if we practice moleculare approach ( high economic cost ) what the additive benifit can we get from this practice .
Good Luck
To Know if an egg is fertile or not,by the number of chromosomes in fertilized egg it has (2 n) and the presence of the second polar body while unfertilized egg has (n) chromosomes.
And you must candle it. This is a somewhat delicate procedure in which a small light source (such as a small flash light or an "egg candler" ) is held up to an egg on or after the fifth day of incubation to see if any growth is evident.Infertile or "clear" eggs will appear empty except for a yellow yolk and the air pocket. if an embryo die at an early stage of life and nothing but a thin blood ring will be visible within the egg.(a practical way)
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