Milk protein polymorphisms in the Reggiana cattle

Abstract

Milk protein genetic variability has been extensively investigated in cattle, both at protein and DNA levels, to analyse possible relationships with quantitative and qualitative milk traits and in evolutionary and biodiversity studies. At the protein level, isoelectrofocusing (IEF) technique is a cheap and powerful tool for the simultaneous detection of different milk protein loci and alleles. Several lactoprotein variants, and in particular rare alleles, were identified by IEF (Erhardt., 1993; Erhardt, 1996; Ikonen et al., 1996; Erhardt et al., 1998). By using the entire casein haplotype, instead of single genotypes, we can obtain better estimates of the associations between casein variants and milk traits (Aleandri et al., 1990; Ikonen et al., 2001). IEF can be used to type the whole casein cluster......

Keywords

• Milk proteins, gene, casein haplotypes, Reggiana cattle breed