Analysis on correlation between polymorphism of MyoG gene exon I and body size traits of sheep

Abstract

Myogenin (MyoG) is responsible for centering control over myocyte differentiation process and can influence the meat production of animals directly. Large tailed Han sheep, small tailed Han sheep, Yuxi fatty tailed sheep, Lanzhou large tailed sheep, Mongolia sheep and Tong Sheep were used as the experimental materials in this study. Polymorphism of MyoG gene exon I was tested by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The correlation between polymorphism of MyoG gene exon I and body size traits was analyzed. Influences of MyoG gene exon I on growth traits of sheep were discussed. Results demonstrated that 2 alleles (A, B) and 3 genotypes (AA, BB and AB) were detected in MyoG gene exon I of all 6 sheep varieties. The A allele frequencies in MyoG gene exon I of small tailed Han sheep, large tailed Han sheep, Yuxi fatty tailed sheep, Lanzhou large tailed sheep, Mongolia sheep and Tong Sheep were 0.5167, 0.2500, 0.4376, 0.6500, 0.5750 and 0.7125, while the B allele frequencies were 0.4833, 0.7500, 0.5625, 0.3500, 0.4250 and 0.2875, respectively. Chest width and neck length of the AA genotype of MyoG gene exon I were significantly higher than those of the AB genotype (P less than 0.01) and BB genotype (P less than 0.05). Body length and rump length of the AA genotype were significantly higher than those of the AB genotype (P less than 0.05). The chest depth and hip width of the AA genotype was far lower than that of the AB genotype (P less than 0.01). The hip height of the AA genotype was far lower than that of the BB genotype (P less than 0.05).