The incredible, edible, and therapeutic egg

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The domestic fowl has a long and unique history, serving multiple purposes in society and science. A cursory review of the Nobel Prize awards in physiology or medicine since 1901 points to the significance of birds, and the chicken in particular, as the premier nonmammalian vertebrate animal model (see www.fbresearch.org/education/nobels.htm and http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates). The domestic fowl aided in the discovery of essential vitamins and gave the first clue to differences between T and B cells. In fact, B cell nomenclature is based on the origin of B cells from the avian bursa of Fabricius. In addition, the chicken model provided the foundation for understanding the chemical processes for vision, insights into animal behavior, and our first introduction to tumor viruses [e.g., Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)] and the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes. Even today, avian oncogenic viruses provide valuable models for human disease. Furthermore, for many developmental biologists, the avian embryo remains the premier animal model (1). On the practical side, the general public is protected from yearly influenza outbreaks through vaccine production in chicken eggs. In addition to its scientific and biomedical importance, poultry as an agricultural commodity has grown over the last 60 years into a global industry providing billions of people with inexpensive high-quality animal protein in the form of meat and eggs. Much of the success of the poultry industry is directly related to the application of population genetics for the selection of commercial lines for efficient protein production (2). Today, estimates of the cost of egg production in the U.S. hover around 5 cents per egg. Given that the albumin from a single egg contains ≈3.6 g of protein, the domestic laying hen is a very efficient protein bioreactor. Now, with the report of Lillico et al. (3) in this issue of …