**Author details**

Paweł Brzuzan1\*, Maciej Woźny<sup>1</sup> , Lidia Wolińska<sup>1</sup> and Michał K. Łuczyński<sup>2</sup>

1 Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Univer‐ sity of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland

2 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, Uni‐ versity of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland

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**Section 2**

**Molecular Cloning and Genetics**

**Molecular Cloning and Genetics**

**Chapter 10**

**Identification of Key Molecules Involved in the**

Lourdes Mateos-Hernández, Elena Crespo,

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

ploring the transcriptome in this interesting specie.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/54191

**1. Introduction**

lent parasites.

José de la Fuente and José M. Pérez de la Lastra

**Protection of Vultures Against Pathogens and Toxins**

Vultures may have one of the strongest immune systems of all vertebrates (Apanius et al., 1983; Ohishi et al., 1979). Vultures are unique vertebrates able to efficiently utilize carcass from other animals as a food resource. These carrion birds are in permanent contact with numerous pathogens and toxins found in its food. In addition, vultures tend to feed in large groups, because carcasses are patchy in space and time, and feeding often incurs fighting and wounding, exposing vultures to the penetration of microorganisms present in the carri‐ on (Houston & Cooper, 1975). When an animal dies, the carcass provides the growth condi‐ tions necessary for many pathogens to thrive and produce high levels of toxins. Vultures are able to feed upon such a carcasses with no apparent ill effects. Therefore, vultures were pre‐ dicted to have evolved immune mechanisms to cope with a high risk of infection with viru‐

Despite the potential interest in carrion bird immune system, little is known about the mo‐ lecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of this process in vultures. The aim of this chapter was to explore the genes from the griffon vulture (*Gyps fulvus*) leukocytes, particu‐ larly to search novel receptors, such as the toll-like receptor (TLRs) and other components involved in the immune sensing of pathogens and in the mechanism by which vulture are protected against toxins. This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of ex‐

The toll-like receptor (TLR) family is an ancient pattern recognition receptor family, con‐ served from insects to mammals. Members of the TLR family are vital to immune func‐ tion through the sensing of pathogenic agents and initiation of an appropriate immune

> © 2013 Mateos-Hernández et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 Mateos-Hernández et al.; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
