Identification of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) C-2161G in the promoter region of Prolactin gene and its association with egg production in tellicherry native chicken

Prolactin is a physiological candidate gene which has significant effects on egg production in poultry. Also, it plays a major role on incubation behaviour (broodiness) in birds. The main objective of the present study was identification of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) C-2161G in the promoter region of prolactin gene and its association with egg production in Tellicherry native chicken population.

A total of 200 blood samples were collected from the randomly selected birds of Tellicherry native chicken in All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Poultry Improvement (AICRP) Farm, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala. Isolation of Genomic DNA was done and the isolated samples were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis to identify the SNP C-2161G of prolactin gene.

On the basis of RFLP patterns, birds were designated with three different genotypes namely CC, CG and GG. The allelic and genotypic frequency was calculated. The observed genotypic frequency at the SNP site C-2161G was CC (0.61), CG (0.160) and GG (0.23) and the frequency of allele was 0.69 for C and 0.31 for G. The egg production was shown to be statistically similar for the genotypes of SNP C-2161G.