RFL polymorphism of three fertility genes in Egyptian buffalo

Abstract

There is a considerable interest in the application of molecular genetics technologies in the form of specific DNA markers that are associated with various productivity traits to promote more efficient and relatively easy selection and breeding of farm animals with an advantage for inheritable traits of production and reproduction. River buffalo is a species of great economic potential, especially in developing countries; it is the main source of meat and milk in Egypt. This study aimed to detect the genetic polymorphism of three genes; follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR), luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) and estrogen receptor-α (ERα) genes which are considered candidate genes for fertility and reproduction performances. The genetic polymorphism detection of these genes in Egyptian buffaloes will enable us to identify and subsequently select the animals with high fertility performances- depending on these molecular markers- for breeding programs. Genomic DNA extracted from 100 healthy female buffaloes was amplified using primers that were designed from the cattle FSHR, LHR and ERα gene sequences. The amplified fragments of FSHR (306-bp), LHR (303-bp) and ERα (248-bp) were digested with AluI, HhaI and BglI restriction enzymes, respectively. The results showed that all tested buffaloes are genotyped as CC for FSHR and TT for LHR. Regarding to the ERα gene, 18% of the investigated buffaloes are genotypes as heterozygous AG and the remaining animals (82%) are genotyped as GG. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published data on the genetic characterization and nucleotide sequences of fertility genes in Egyptian buffalo. The nucleotide sequences of Egyptian buffalo FSHRC, LHRT, ERαG and ERαA alleles were submitted to nucleotide sequences database NCBI/ Bankit/GenBank and have the accession numbers JX049145, JQ885687, JQ308795 and JQ308796, respectively

Keywords

• Buffalo, FSHR, LHR, ERα, PCR-RFLP, Nucleotide sequences