Polymorphism in the exon 4 of β-lactoglobulin variant B precursor gene and its association with milk traits and protein structure in Chinese Holstein

beta-lactoglobulin (beta-LG) is the major whey protein in the milk. In order to investigate the polymorphism of beta-LG variant B precursor (beta-LG B*: GenBank accession no. DQ489319) gene and its effects on the milk traits, the single-strand conformation polymorphism method (PCR-SSCP) were adopted to analyze polymorphism between 5229th and 5476th bp in the beta-LG B* gene in Chinese Holstein. Four genotypes were found (AA, AB, AC and ABC) and 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected (g.5239C > A, g.5240A > C, g.5305C > T and mix type g.5305C/T) in the exon 4 of beta-LG B* gene. It was also found that the protein contents of AB, AC and ABC dairy cows were higher than AA (P < 0.05), and AC cows were the highest among them. Three SNPs (g.5239C > A, g.5240A > C and g.5305C > T) might affect the milk trait and all of them were high polymorphism (0.5 < PIC < 1.0). In further researches, the three SNPs also caused amino acid change (Asp > Glu, Thr > Pro and Ala > Val) respectively, and the spatial secondary and tertiary structure forecasting result also showed that single amino acid change influence protein spatial structure change in Chinese Holstein. Taken together, it is suggested that these SNPs change beta-LG B* gene structure and expression. The polymorphism possibly holds the secret of milk protein and fat contents in the milk of Chinese Holstein.