Search

The Tuvan short-fat-tailed sheep is a local breed spread in the Russian Federation. This breed habites in Tuva. The aim of investigation was the identification of the genetic polymorphism of calpastatin (CAST) and the growth differentiation factor-9 (GDF9) genes in the Tuvan local sheep population. Calpastatin gene is known as a candidate gene of meat quality traits, and GDF9 gene is a potential genetic marker of prolificacy. Genomic DNA was isolated from samples of blood of 131 animals. Two primer pairs were used to obtain 622 b.p. fragment of CAST gene and 462 b.p. fragment of GDF9 gene. Calpastatin locus was digested with MspI restriction enzyme. Two genotypes (MM and MN) of CAST gene were observed. The polymorphism of GDF9 gene (CC and CD genotypes) was detected after amplicons digestion with AspLEI restriction enzyme. MM and MN genotypes were identified with 0.855 and 0.145 frequencies, M and N allele frequencies were 0.928 and 0.072, respectively. In this population CC and CD genotypes of GDF9 gene were identified with 0.878 and 0.122 frequencies, C and D allele frequencies were 0.939 and 0.061, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work was to study MspI polymorphism in the CAST gene in Soviet Merino and Salsk sheep breeds in the South European part of Russia and to find its relation with growth traits. Soviet Merino sheep have been found to have the M and N alleles with a frequency of 0.88 and 0.12 and the MM, MN, and NN genotypes with a frequency of 0.82, 0.12, and 0.06, respectively. Salsk sheep have been established to have the M and N alleles with a frequency of 0.89 and 0.11 and two genotypes, MM and MN, with a frequency of 0.78 and 0.22, respectively. A significant relationship between the CAST genotypes and the growth traits of Salsk sheep has been revealed. The absence of the homozygous NN genotype in Soviet Merino sheep did not allow us to determine what exactly causes the effect of increasing the average daily gain of sheep - the presence of the N allelic variant or the combination of the heterozygous M and N alleles. The results obtained show the CAST/MspI gene to be promising as a marker of sheep production in developing sheep breeding programs to improve fattening and meat qualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]