Abstract

GENETIC STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF KAPPA-CASEIN GENE/ HINDIII AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH SOME PRODUCTIVE TRAITS IN IRAQI COWS POPULATION (COMPARATIVE STUDY)

Dr. Da?ad Ali Hussain and Mohammed H. Twayej*

Abstract

Caseins are a family of milk proteins that exist in several molecular forms (alpha s1, alpha s2, beta and kappa) with variant alleles of each. Kappa-casein (k-Cn) gene exists commonly as A or B variants and are of particular importance to the quality of the milk. This study aimed to evaluate the genetic polymorphism within k-Cn using PCR-RFLP technique as well as the association of these genotypes with milk production and body weight within Iraqi and hybrid bovine as a comparison study. Genomic DNA extracted from 130 healthy bovine (80 Iraqi, 50 hybrids) and amplified using primers that were designed from the cattle κ-Cn, and the structural gene polymorphism was applied using certain restriction enzyme (HindIII) throughout PCRRFLP technique. There were three genotypes observed, the distribution of the three genotypes and allele frequency were calculated according to Hardy-Weinberg equation, AA=45 (55.32%), 21 (44.89%), LV=29 (38.12%), 25 (44.22%) and VV=6 (6.57%), 4 (10.89%) for Iraqi and hybrid bovine respectively. The results indicated that κ-Cn genotype (AA) increased significantly (P

Keywords: bovine, Kappa-casein, HindIII, PCR-RFLP, University of Baghdad, Iraqi Bovine Population.