Figure 1.

SPINK2 expression profile in chicken tissues. (a) SPINK2 messenger RNA (top panel) was investigated by RT‐PCR (see specific primers in Section 2), in heart (He), liver (Li), testis (Te), epididymis (Ep); no PCR substrate as negative control (−). RT‐PCR for glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (bottom panel) is shown as a housekeeping gene. (b) Western blot using anti‐SPINK2 antibody with protein extracts from liver (Li), testis (Te), epididymis (Ep), spermatozoa (SPZ), and seminal plasma (SP). Molecular weight is indicated on the left. The arrow indicates SPINK2 signal. (c) Membrane stained with SyproRuby to evaluate the protein loading. RT‐PCR: reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction