Genetic study on BMP-15 as candidate gene of prolificacy in Ilе de France sheep breed

Milena Bozhilova-Sakova, Radostina Stoykova-Grigorova

Abstract: The aim of this experiment was to detect the possible polymorphism in BMP-15 gene by PCRRFLP.
Sheep BMP-15 gene is located on X chromosome and it is directly related to prolificacy, ovulation
rate and twining in sheep. The present study was carried out with 50 ewes from Ilе de France
sheep breed, part of the Institute of Animal Science – Kostinbrod. Blood samples were collected from
jugular vein. Genomic DNA was extracted from the whole blood by manual purification kit. Specific
set of primers was used for the PCR amplification. The PCR products were digested by restriction
enzyme DdeI and the obtained fragments were visualized on 3% agarose gel stained with GelRed. In
all tested animals it was detected only wild allele A and only wild homozygous genotype АА (153 bp),
respectively. Therefore, in this experiment, the studied region of the BMP-15 gene can be defined as
monomorphic, which means that it could not be used as a candidate gene of prolificacy in this herd.

Keywords: BMP-15 gene; genetic diversity; Ile de France sheep breed; PCR-RFLP; prolificacy

Date published: 2022-02-25