Study on the Genetic Polymorphisms of Candidate Genes (Calpastatin and BoLA) in Sistani Cattle Using PCR-RFLP

Selection based on molecular markers is one of the new methods that may improve progress and accuracy of selection in animal breeding programs. Candidate genes of Calpastatin and (BoLA Bovine Leucocyte Antigen DRB3) were studied. Calpastatin gene is the candidate gene investigating growth rate and meat tenderness and DRB3 is extensively evaluated as a candidate marker for associations with various bovine diseases and immunological traits. Blood samples were taken from 89 Sistani cows in Zehak Research Institute. Genomic Extraction and PCR reaction were done for detect genomic variation of Bovine Leucocyte Antigen and Calpastatin. Amplicons were digested with restriction enzymes MspI for Calpastatin and RsaI, HaeIII and BstYI for BoLA DRB3 genes, respectively. Allelic frequencies for Calpastatin were M=0.764 and N=0.236, respectively. χ2 test showed That population is in hardy-weinberg equliberium. In this studies 19 alleles were identified in the studied Sistani herd. Allelic frequencies ranged from 0.1 to 0.22 in the Sistani population. The most frequent alleles were *8 and *34. These data provide evidence that Sistani breed have a variability, which opens interesting prospects for future selection programs, especially marker-assistant selection.