The Allele and Genotype Frequencies of Bovine Pituitaryspecific Transcription Factor and Leptin Genes in IranianCattle and Buffalo Populations Using PCR-RFLP

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Genomics, West and North-West Agriculture Biotechnology Research Institute(ABRII-T), Tabriz, I.R. Iran.

2 Department of Animal Production and Management, Animal Science Research Institute of Iran (ASRI), Karaj, I.R. Iran.

3 Department of Biotechnology, Animal Science Research Institute of Iran (ASRI), Karaj, I.R. Iran.

Abstract

The use of polymorphic markers in breeding programmes could make selection more accurate and efficient. A total of 324 individuals from six Iranian cattle populations (Sarabi, Golpayegani, Sistani, Taleshi, Mazandarani, Dashtiyari), F1 Golpayegani × Brown Swiss and Iranian buffalo populations were genotyped
for the Pit-1 HinfI and leptin Sau3AI polymorphisms by the polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment
length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The genotype and gene frequencies for each breed were determined and
shown to be quite variable among the breeds. The highest frequencies of allele B for the leptin gene and
allele A for the Pit-1 gene were found in Dashtiyari and Sistani cattle, respectively. According to our results,
the highest AB genotype frequencies were found in the Taleshi and F1 Golpayegani x Brown Swiss cross for
the leptin and Pit-1 genes, respectively. These allele frequencies were comparable to previously published
data on exotic breeds. The highest and lowest heterozygosities were found in Taleshi and Dashtiyari cattle
for the leptin gene and in F1 Golpayegani x Brown Swiss cross and Sistani cattle for the Pit-1 gene, respectively. These values indicated the presence of low variation for these genes in the studied populations.
The possible association between molecular polymorphisms within these candidate genes and economic
traits for the studied populations should be further investigated.

Keywords