Association between polymorphism of GPR54 gene and litter size in Small Tail Han sheep.

摘要

A DNA fragment (4262 bp) of sheep GPR54 gene was obtained through PCR and DNA sequencing methods. One nucleotide transition mutation (A125G) and one 5 bp deletion/insertion (TTCTT) mutation at the 163-167 locus in 5'-regulatory region of sheep GPR54 gene were identified by sequence alignment between Small Tail Han and Corriedale sheep. The distributions of these two mutations were determined in high prolificacy breeds (Small Tail Han and Hu sheep) and low prolificacy breeds (Chinese Merino and Corriedale sheep) and their effects on litter size in Small Tail Han sheep were also evaluated. The results showed that the two mutations existed in all four sheep breeds tested. In Small Tail Han sheep, genotype frequency of AA, AG and GG was 0.250, 0.500 and 0.250, respectively. The differences of litter size between three genotypes were not significant in Small Tail Han sheep (P