Abstract: Osteopontin (OPN) is a kind of multi-functional secretory calcium-binding phosphorylated glycoprotein. In order to resolve the molecular mechanism of the formation of eggshell from the perspective of gene expression, egg-laying hens as the experimental animals in this study, using real-time quantitative PCR technique, to study the abundance expression of the osteopontin gene which was related to eggshell formation in the uterus at different time periods (2 h before egg into the uterus, 1 h before into the uterus, 5 h after into the uterus, 15 h after into the uterus, 1 h after egg production, 2 h after egg production). The results showed that 2 h before egg into the uterus, 1 h before into the uterus, 5 h after into the uterus, OPN expression levels increased gradually; 15 h after into the uterus, 1 h after egg production, 2 h after egg production OPN expression levels decreased gradually.The change of regularity was closely related to egg shell calcification.

Key words: eggshell; fluorescence quantitative PCR; osteopontin (OPN)