Polymorphism in Growth Hormone Gene and its Association with Production Traits in Goats

Abstract

Lan, X.Y., Chen, H., Pan, C.Y., Ming, L.J., Lei, C.Z., Hua, L.S., Zhang, C.L. and Hu, S.R. 2007. Polymorphism in growth hormone gene and its association with production traits in goats. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 32: 55–60. To detect the polymorphism in growth hormone gene in goats, five pairs of primers i.e. GUI & GH2 (for 5' UTR region), GH3 and GH4 (for 2nd exon region and flanking regions) and GH5 (for 5th exon and flanking 3′ UTR region) were used to amplify the respective regions. Polymorphic SSCP patterns were detected in all the amplified regions. Only association between SSCP in the 5th exon regions and milk yields in the third and fourth lactation was significant. There were several sequence variations in different amplified regions, however, 1651T-to-G mutation in exon 5 and flanking 3′ UTR region was used for PCR-RFLP genotyping of different goat breeds with KpnI. The KpnI PCR-RFLP identified two alleles i.e. GH-T and GH-G allele and two genotypes (TT/TG) in seven goat populations. Frequencies of GH-G allele were 0.142, 0.092, 0.032, 0.131, 0.059, 0.050 and zero for Xinong Sannen dairy, Laoshan dairy, Guanzhong dairy, Shaannan White, Guizhou White, Angora and Boer populations reared in China. The association between TT and TG genotype with milk performance, litter size and weight may be useful for studying breed characteristics.