Characterization and SNP Identification of Part of the Goat Melanophilin Gene

Abstract

The melanophilin (MLPH) gene has been characterized as the candidate gene for dilute coat color in some species, but little is known about it in the goat. In this study, part of the genomic DNA sequence (19,289 bp) containing the whole coding region of the MLPH gene from goat, as well as from sheep, was determined. We found 16 exons and 15 introns; the coding region was 1767 bp distributed in 15 exons (2-16). In sheep, the length of part of the genomic DNA sequence was 16,988 bp, with 16 exons and 15 introns, and the coding region was 1833 bp, distributed in 15 exons (2-16). Dozens of SNPs as well as some noticeable motifs in the goat MLPH gene were found during the process of sequencing and polymorphism screening. Based on the SSR Tool, three simple sequence repeat motifs were detected in the goat and sheep DNA sequences. Compared with cattle, we found insertions of 4 amino acids in goats and 26 amino acids in sheep.