Identification of MSTN/DraI polymorphism in ten Bulgarian sheep breeds

Milena Bozhilova-Sakova, Ivona Dimitrova, Maya Ignatova, Atanaska Teneva, Tanya Ivanova, Vesselin Koutev, Radostina Stoikova-Grigorova, Denis Viryanski

Abstract: The success of sheep production depends largely on two important characteristics of sheep – their
growth ability and meat quality. The myostatin gene (MSTN) is one of the major regulators of skeletal
muscle growth and development and it is defined as a suitable candidate gene for genetic improvement
through marker-assisted selection. In this study by means of PCR-RFLP method was identified allelic
variants of intron 1 of MSTN gene in ten Bulgarian sheep breeds – Askanian (30 animals), Caucasian
(30 animals), Karnobat Merino (60), Local Karnobat (30), Karakachan (60), Breznik (30), Cooper-
Red Shoumen (30), Il de France (60), Bulgarian Dairy Synthetic Population (60) and Pleven Black
headed (30). Genomic DNA was extracted from 420 blood samples. After PCR amplification, the
received 497 bp fragment of the myostatin gene was digested with the restriction enzyme DraI. The
results showed that this area of the myostatin gene is highly conservative in Bulgarian sheep breeds.
All of the investigated ten sheep breeds were monomorphic for the tested locus. Only the B allele and
genotype BB were found in all studied animals.

Keywords: MSTN gene; PCR-RFLP method; polymorphism; sheep

Date published: 2022-08-29