Nucleotide Polymorphism of Leptin Gene in Anatolian Water Buffaloes

Marker assisted selection (MAS) have been using to determine the associations between the genes and economic traits of livestock animals. However, phenotypic values do not generally indicate the real genotypic values of animals. However, using MAS approaches in selection of animals can increase the accuracy of selection. From this point of view, validation of candidate gene markers for marker assisted selection is very important to increase genetic gains in breeding. Leptin is a 16 kDa protein which is highly expressed in adipose tissue. Leptin is one of the most significant candidate gene marker for MAS studies. Therefore, bubaline leptin gene exon 2, part of the intron 1 and intron 2 region were amplified and sequenced to identify nucleotide variations in Anatolian water buffaloes. Sequence analysis were revealed seven polymorphic site (G1072A, T1081C, T1131G, T1143C, T1145G, T1151G and C1221T) and one monomorphic site (C1071T) in Anatolian water buffaloes. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first study that fully describes seven polymorphic sites of bubaline leptin gene in Anatolian water buffaloes.