Detection of Polymorphism in Exon-3 Region of Leptin Gene in Bikaneri Camel

The study was undertaken on 40 Camels (Camelus dromedarius) of Bikaneri breed to identify the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in leptin gene. Nucleotide sequence of Lama glama was used to design primers to amplify selected region of leptin gene in Bikaneri camel. A 540bp fragment was amplified which covered Partial intron-2, exon-3 and partial 3’ UTR region of leptin gene in Bikaneri camel. The genetic variation in partial ntron-2, exon-3 and partial 3’ UTR (540bp) region of leptin gene was studied utilising single strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) technique followed by nucleotide sequencing. SSCP analysis revealed monomorphic pattern as only AA genotype in studied region of leptin gene was observed. For verification and validation of observed results of SSCP, amplified PCR products of 6 animals were randomly selected for sequence analysis to ascertain the sequence pattern and existence of point mutations in the selected region. All the 6 animals had same sequence pattern. Monomorphic pattern showed the conserved nature of leptin gene in dromedary camel.