Genetic polymorphism of milk proteins in African Bos taurus and Bos indicus populations. Characterization of variants αs1-Cn H and κ-Cn J

Abstract

The polymorphism of caseins, a-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin was investigated in African Bos taurus (N'Dama, Baoule, Kuri) and Bos indicus (Shuwa Arab, Sudanese Flzlani) populations. The respective frequencies of alleles a and a in the N'Dama (0.89 and 0.11) and Baoule (0.92 and 0.08) breeds were almost opposite to those found in the Shuwa Arab zebu (0.22 and 0.78), a true zebu, which confirms a phenomenon already documented in the literature. Because the a/<t-Cn haplotype was strongly predominant in N'Dama and Baoul( and 0as compared to the asl/K-Cn! haplotype in the Shuwa Arab zebu (0.63), an opposite trend in frequencies was also observed between taurines and zebus at the β-Cn and rc-Cn loci. These results confirm that the polymorphism of caseins provides an efficient marker system to discriminate Bos taurus from Bos indicus origins. The Kuri was at an intermediate position, since, in this population, the a allele predominated as in taurines, while the * Correspondence and reprints