Genetic variants for chick biology research: from breeds to mutants

The availability of the draft sequence of the chicken genome will undoubtedly propel an already important vertebrate research model, the domestic chicken, to a new level. This review describes aspects of chicken natural history and cross-disciplinary biological value. The diversity of extant genetic variants available to researchers is reviewed along with institutional stock locations for North America. An overview of the problem of lack of long-term stability for these resources is presented. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.