GENOTYPING OF β-LACTOGLOBULIN GENE IN KARAKUL SHEEP BREED

Abstract

β-lactoglobulin is the major milk whey protein in the ruminants. Studies have indicated that this protein is polymorphic in the many breeds of sheep. This is the result of a single base pair substitution in the β-lactoglobulin gene. The genetic variants, A (tyrosine) and B (histidine), differ at the amino acid position 20. The nucleotide mutation disrupts an RsaI site and can be detected by PCR-RFLP analyses. We included in this study 52 animals from Karakul breed. The Karakul may be the oldest breed of domesticated sheep. In Romania it is raised especially for pelts. The aim of this work was to analyze the genotype distribution of βlactoglobulin in Karakul sheep.

Keywords

• β-lactoglobulin
• sheep
• pcr-rflp
• genotyping