Age specific role of myostatin intron-2 gene on body weight of magra sheep

The economic success of small ruminant based livestock production system depends on the factors affecting the muscular growth. Therefore, the present study was carried out in one of the potential ovine meat genotype, i.e., Magra sheep breed, to investigate the role of growth regulating myostatin (MSTN)gene on body weight of Magra lambs at different stages through single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP’s) based marker.Genomic DNA was isolated from whole blood of randomly selected Magra sheep (N=74) maintained at Livestock Research Farm, CSWRI, Bikaner campus through spin column method. A 311bp fragment comprising intron 2 region of MSTN gene was amplified through designed homologous primers (Gen Bank accession number JN856480) at an annealing temperature of 54°C. Initial screening of collected specimen was carried out through single stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) based marker on 8% non-denaturing polyacrylamide gels to detect the polymorphic individuals. Sequencing and clustal analysis was carried out in order to detect SNP’s responsible for genetic variation among individuals. The three conformational patterns detected were observed to be the result of substitution of five different nucleotides substitution in the amplified fragment. Association analysis revealed significant role of heterozygotic SNP’s conformation (CTAAA/TATGT) on body weight of Magra sheep at 3 and 6 months of age in comparison to homozygotic genotypic pattern, TATGT/TATGT. The present study concluded that genetic variability in intron- 2 region of MSTN gene in Magra lamb significantly affects body weight at specific stages of life.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Single stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) was used for purification of MSTN gene.

• Genetic variability in intron- 2 region of MSTN gene in Magra lamb significantly affects body weight.