Association of Myostatin Gene Exon 3 Polymorphism with twining trait in Markhoz Goat

The aim of this study was to investigate polymorphism in the exon 3 of myostatin gene and its relationship with twining rate in Markhoz Goat. In this study, blood samples of 150 goats were collected from Animal Science Research Station of Sanandaj province. After DNA extraction, one set of specific primers was designed and used to amplify a 475bp fragment of the myostatin gene exon 3. The enzyme digestion of the PCR products confirmed presence of a mutation from T to G nucleotide in position 169 of the amplified fragment. The genotype frequencies of TT, TG, and GG were estimated 81.3%, 12.7% and 6%, and allele frequencies estimated were 88% and 12% for T and G alleles, respectively. The Chi-Square test showed Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in myostatin gene (P<0.01). The amounts of Odd Ratio estimated for twining rate were 1.1032 for first parity on second parity (P>0.05) and 4.9497 on third parity (P<0.1), and 5.4605 for second parity on third parity (P<0.1). Also, the Chi-Square statistic (5.68) showed that twining rate in Markhoz goat breed is statistically affected by myostatin gene genotypes (P<0.05). The Odds Ratios obtained to compare the different genotypes of the myostatin gene showed superiority for twining rate as TT>TG>GG genotypes. The Chi-Square statistics equal to 2.65 demonstrated significant differences between two TT and GG genotype groups for twining rate in Markhoz goat. The results of this research demonstrate that the myostatin gene can be considered as a suitable marker to improve twining rate in breeding programs of Markhoz goat.