Polymorphism of Exon V of prolactin gene and its association with Cashmere traits in Changthangi Pashmina goats

Abstract

Prolactin is one of the potential genes which mediates seasonal cues entraining reproductive and hair follicle growth cycles. Seasonal changes in levels of prolactin hormone mediate the patterns of de-iodinase enzyme activity which influence the follicular activity and thereby may affect Cashmere fibre growth and moult. To study polymorphism of the prolactin gene and associate it with fibre production and quality, Changthangi goat 196 bp fragment of prolactin gene Exon-V region was amplified and restriction digested with ECO 241(BanII) and in the study three genotypes were observed. These different genotypes were confirmed by DNA sequencing. The frequencies for the observed genotypes A1A1, A2A2, A1A2 were 0.214, 0.291 and 0.495 respectively. The distribution of the genotypes within the Changthangi goat population studied herein did not deviate from the Hardy Weinberg equilibrium. The mean genetic variability parameters for the gene analyzed were 0.4970 (heterozygosity value), 0.3735 (PIC value), 1.9880 (Effective allele number) and 0.6901 (Shannon index I) . The polymorphism observed in the gene showed a non-significant association (P>0.05) with Cashmere quality traits. The results obtained here in, because of low sample size, demand further investigation with sufficiently large number of samples.