Abstract:

Currently, the primary thrust of research in animal genetics is the identification of genes (so-called major genes), which affect the expression of quantitative traits markedly. Two of these major genes are growth hormone (GH) and its receptor (GHR) genes which are related to production and reproduction traits in livestock. There is extensive literature on the genetic polymorphism of GH and GHR in cattle, but perusal of literature has indicated paucity of information on these two genes in buffalo. This study aimed to evaluate the genetic polymorphism within growth hormone and its receptor genes in Egyptian buffalo using PCR-RFLP technique. Genomic DNA extracted from 100 healthy buffaloes was amplified using primers that were designed from the cattle GH and GHR gene sequences. All buffalo animals investigated in this study are genotyped as LL for GH gene where all tested buffalo DNA amplified fragments at 211-bp were digested with AluI endonuclease and gave two digested fragments at 159- and 52-bp due to the presence of the AluI restriction site at position 52^53 (AG^CT). The amplified fragments of GHR gene obtained from all tested buffalo DNA at 342-bp were digested with AluI endonuclease. The result showed that all tested buffaloes are genotyped as GG for GHR gene, where amplified fragments were digested into two digested fragments at 241- and 101-bp due to the presence of AluI restriction site at position 101^102 (AG^CT).

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