Association of a SacII polymorphism in the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) gene exon 3 with growth traits in Indian goats

Abstract

Nerve Growth Factor expression in skeletal muscle tissue is associated with an autocrine action by its effect on the proliferation, fusion into myotubes and morphology of developing myoblasts. The objectives of this study were to verify the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in NGF gene and their association with growth traits in two indigenous native goat breeds of Kerala, viz., Malabari and Attappady Black. A total of 232 goats were genotyped using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) using the restriction enzyme SacII. One SNP, C291A was detected in coding region of the NGF gene, and accordingly two genotypes were revealed CC and CA. The frequencies of CC and CA genotypes were 0.66 and 0.34 in the population. In addition, a significant association between the SNP, C291A and growth traits was observed in the goat population under study. The goats with CA genotypes showed superior values for body conformation traits than those with CC genotypes. The association of NGF gene with these traits emphasizes the importance of caprine NGF as a candidate gene for marker assisted selection for growth traits in goats.