Moreover, to explore whether massive alternative splicing events of MUC2 gene would occur in infected versus normal intestine, MUC2 transcripts in Eimeria infected chicks were analyzed, as MUC2 has reported to be aberrantly expressed and critically involved in the pathogenesis of coccidiosis [20], a prevalent protozoal disease in the gastro-intestinal tract of the chicken. This evidence concerns the gene MUC2 and coccidiosis.