Variability of Leptin gene promoter in cattle

Abstract

A preliminary analysis on the variability of Leptin gene promoter in seven cattle breeds was carried out, focusing the attention on the SNP at nt 1759, which has been suggested to affect some quantitative traits in cattle. In addition, the linkage disequilibrium with the C305T mutation in exon 2 of Leptin gene was tested. The results indicate that the Leptin gene promoter is polymorphic in all the analysed breeds, with significant betweenbreed differences. Pairwise comparison of genotypes at the two considered SNPs revealed a significant linkage disequilibrium, with the presence of the haplotypes 1759C - 305T and 1759G - 305C.

Keywords

• Leptin, Promoter, SNP, Cattle.