Polymorphism of prion protein gene [PRNP] in Iranian holstein and two local cattle populations [Golpayegani and Sistani] of Iran

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy [BSE] is a fatal infectious neurodegenerative disease in cattle, characterized by the accumulation of an abnormal, proteaseresistant prion protein [PrPSc] in the brain. BSE is similar to scrapie in sheep and goats and Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Susceptibility in cattle has been shown to be under the influence of two polymorphic locations, which are a 23 bp in/del polymorphism and a 12 bp indel within intron 1 of the prion protein gene [PRNP]. DNA was extracted from blood samples of three Iranian cattle populations including Sistani [Bos indicus] [n=60], Golpayegani [Bos indicus] [n=62] and Iranian Holstein [Bos taurus] [n=50], In order to identify the putative polymorphisms of the PRNP gene of those breeds. Allele, genotype and haplotype frequencies of the polymorphisms were determined for the three populations. Susceptibility analysis was considered as per literature, upon which, it was suggested that the two Bos indicus native populations are more resistant to BSE than the Iranian Holstein [Bos taurus], due to higher gene frequency for insertion allele of the intron 1 of the PRNP gene polymorphism

Parentage verification of Iranian Caspian horse using microsatellites markers

The present study was to construct a parentage verification system for Iranian Caspian horse. A total number of 45 Caspian horse samples including 14 foals for parentage verification, 17 stallion and 14 mare for individual identification were genotyped. Genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood and the genotype were analysed by PCR procedure and using 7 microsatellite markers [AHT04, HMS03, HMS06, HTG06, HTG07, LEX33 and VHL20]. The number of alleles per locus varied from 3 to 4 with mean value of 3.86. The expected heterozygosity was ranged from 0.617 to 0.741 [mean 0.675], and the total exclusion probability [PE] of 7 microstellite loci was 0.973. All markers have relatively high polymorphic information content [PIC] value [> 0.6]. All foals were qualified by compatibility according to the Mendelism. This study suggests that the DNA typing method has high potential for parentage testing and individual identification of Iranian Caspian horses

allele and genotype frequencies of bovine pituitary - specific transcription factor and leptin genes in Iranian cattle and buffalo populations using PCR-RFLP

The use of polymorphic markers in breeding programmes could make selection more accurate and efficient. A total of 324 individuals from six Iranian cattle populations [Sarabi, Golpayegani, Sistani, Taleshi, Mazandarani, Dashtiyari], F1 Golpayegani Brown Swiss and Iranian buffalo populations were genotyped for the Pit-1 HinfI and leptin Sau3AI polymorphisms by the polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism [PCR-RFLP]. The genotype and gene frequencies for each breed were determined and shown to be quite variable among the breeds. The highest frequencies of allele B for the leptin gene and allele A for the Pit-1 gene were found in Dashtiyari and Sistani cattle, respectively. According to our results, the highest AB genotype frequencies were found in the Taleshi and F1 Golpayegani x Brown Swiss cross for the leptin and Pit-1 genes, respectively. These allele frequencies were comparable to previously published data on exotic breeds. The highest and lowest heterozygosities were found in Taleshi and Dashtiyari cattle for the leptin gene and in F1 Golpayegani x Brown Swiss cross and Sistani cattle for the Pit-1 gene, respectively. These values indicated the presence of low variation for these genes in the studied populations. The possible association between molecular polymorphisms within these candidate genes and economic traits for the studied populations should be further investigated