POU1F1 Gene Polymorphism and its Associations with Body Weight of Osmanabadi Goat

Background: Osmanabadi is the premium meat type goat breed of Maharashtra, known for its adaptability and reproductive efficiency. Identification of superior germplasm and incorporating them into breeding programme is the need of hour for augmenting productivity of Osmanabadi as well as other indigenous goat breeds. Hence, the present research was aimed to study Pituitary Specific Transcription Factor I (POU1F1) gene polymorphism and its associations with body weight of Osmanabadi goat. <br /> Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from 217 blood samples of randomly selected Osmanabadi goats. The 450 bp fragment of POU1F1 gene encompassing exon-6 and its flanking region (3'UTR) was PCR amplified. The PCR amplicon was subjected to RFLP using AluI and PstI restriction enzymes to identify polymorphism at nucleotide position 174 (T>C) in exon 6 and at nucleotide position 110 (T>C) in the 3'UTR of POU1F1 gene, respectively. The association of the observed allelic variants / genotypes with body weight of the animals was performed using One-way ANOVA. <br /> Result: The AluI PCR-RFLP of 450 bp amplicon of POU1F1 gene in Osmanabadi goats revealed polymorphism with three different genotypes viz., 'CC', 'TT' and 'TC'. The observed frequencies for TT, TC and CC genotypes were 0.604, 0.355 and 0.041 respectively. The frequencies of T and C alleles were found to be 0.781 and 0.219, respectively. However, PstI PCR-RFLP revealed monomorphic 3'UTR of POU1F1 gene with single TT genotype. We observed significant differences (P<0.01) between various genotypes at AluI exon-6 locus of POU1F1 gene and body weights at birth, 3 and 6 months of Osmanabadi goat. Highest body weight was recorded for TT genotype followed by TC and CC genotypes in all three age groups. Our findings indicate that the AluI PCR-RFLP locus of the exon-6 of POU1F1 gene can be used as a potent molecular marker for selection of superior stock of Osmanabadi goats.