Molecular cloning and characterisation of serum lysozyme gene in Muzaffarnagri breed of sheep

The present study was carried out to characterise the serum lysozyme gene in Muzaffarnagri sheep. Total RNA was extracted from the white blood cells and serum lysozyme cDNA was synthesised by Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, then cloned using pGEMT-cloning vector and sequenced. The sequencing of cDNA revealed that the length of serum lysozyme gene was 447 bp with 46% Guanine and Cytosine (GC) content. The comparative sequence analysis of serum lysozyme gene of cattle and buffalo with sheep revealed differences at 24 and 21 places, respectively. The molecular weight of serum lysozyme of sheep is 16.48 kDa. The sheep serum lysozyme cDNA sequence was 94.6% similar to cattle gene sequence, whereas it was 95.3% similar to buffalo gene sequence. Similarly, the derived amino acid sequence of sheep cDNA showed 90.6% similarity with cattle and 92.6% similarity with buffalo. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that sheep and buffalo sequences formed a cluster and evolutionary closer than the cattle sequences.