Sequence analysis of high glycine-tyrosine keratin-associated proteins (kaps) in magra sheep

Keratin associated proteins (KAPs) are structural components of the wool fibre. The present study was aimed to analyse nucleotide sequence diversity in three high glycine-tyrosine KAPs gene (HGT-KAP) viz. KAP6, KAP7 and KAP8 from Magra sheep known for lustrous wool. This study was conducted to analyse single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these three gene sequences. In open reading frame (ORF), SNPs were not located in KAP 6, however in KAP 7, 14 SNPs were located which leads to 5 synonymous and 9 non-synonymous mutations. In KAP 8 gene only one SNP was present in ORF which leads to tyrosine to asparagine amino acid change. In phylogenetic analysis, KAP 6 proteins of Magra sheep were clustered with KAP 6 amino acid sequence of cashmere goats. Most of the SNPs identified were located into 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions. Since 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions play crucial roles in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, these SNPs might play some role in lustrous phenotype of the wool.