Association of GH gene polymorphism with growth and semen traits in rabbits

Abstract

<p>Although growth hormone (<em>GH</em>) gene mutations are described in several species, the studies concerning their variabilities and associations with economic traits in rabbits are scarce, particularly associations with semen traits. A total of 149 rabbit bucks from five populations (V-line=36, Moshtohor line=28, APRI line=42, cross ½A½M=23, and Gabali=20) were used in the present study to identify polymorphism of c.-78 C&gt;T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of <em>GH</em> gene among these populations and to investigate the association of <em>GH</em> gene polymorphism with body weight (BW), daily weight gain (DG) and semen traits. DNA was extracted from blood samples for genotyping of c.-78 C&gt;T SNP of <em>GH</em> gene based on polymerase chain reaction with the restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. The genetic diversity of SNP C&gt;T of <em>GH</em> gene was assessed in terms of genotypic and allelic frequencies, effective number of alleles (Ne), observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), reduction in heterozygosity due to inbreeding (F_IS) and polymorphism information content (PIC). Three genotypes of TT, CC and TC of PCR product of 231 bp of <em>GH</em> gene were detected and all the populations were in HWE in terms of <em>GH</em> gene. The highest Ne was obtained for the Moshtohor line (1.978), while the lowest allelic numbers were obtained for V-line (1.715) and Gabali breed (1.800). The highest genotype frequency of <em>GH</em> gene was 0.48 in TT genotype of V-line, 0.21 in CC genotype of Moshtohor line, 0.67 and 0.56 in TC genotype of ½A½M and Gabali rabbits (<em>P</em>&lt;0.05). The highest frequency for C allele was recorded by Moshtohor line (0.45) and the lowest frequency by Gabali (0.32). The genetic diversity scores for <em>GH</em> gene were intermediate (Ho=0.551, He=0.471, PIC=0.358). The values of Ho ranged from 0.444 in V-line to 0.667 in ½A½M cross, while the values of He were 0.425 in V-line and 0.508 in Moshtohor line. The values of PIC were moderate and ranged from 0.332 in V-line to 0.375 in M-line. The highest F_IS was observed in Moshtohor line (0.042) and the lowest value was observed in ½A½M cross (–0.413). The CT genotype of <em>GH</em> gene showed the highest and significant values for body weights at 4, 8, 10 and 12 wk (542, 1131, 1465 and 1861 g) and daily gains at intervals of 4-6 and 8-10 wk (23.1 and 26.5 g). Additionally, the CT genotype recorded the highest and significant values for volume of ejaculate (1.1 mL), sperm motility (57.6%), live sperm (85.6%), normal sperm (93.1%) and sperm concentration in semen (611×106/mL), along with the lowest and significant values for dead sperms (14.4%) and abnormal sperms (6.9%).</p>