Association analysis of novel SNPs in exon 10 of the growth hormone receptor gene with growth traits in Indian sheep

Abstract

The growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene encodes the type I cytokine receptor that helps in joining the growth hormone to this receptor, thus promoting receptor-dimerization, leading to up-regulating growth. The ovine GHR gene located on chromosome 16, which consists of 10 exons and 9 introns, along with untranslated regions on either side, comprise a total size of 178.09 kb. However, earlier reports about polymorphism have mainly dealt with exon 10 which is also a larger fragment of this gene comprising 1102 bp. Hence, this study was carried out to detect polymorphism in exon 10 of the GHR gene and its association with growth traits. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood samples of Madras Red and Mecheri sheep breeds from India. Part of exon 10 (895 bp) of the GHR gene was amplified and sent for sequencing. The sequence analysis revealed transition of nucleotide G>A at loci G177624A and G177878A in both sheep breeds. Populations were screened by Tetra-primer ARMS-PCR. The genotype frequencies of GG, GA and AA were 0.276, 0.519 and 0.205 at 177624 G>A, and 0.307, 0.444 and 0.149 at 177878 G>A in Madras Red sheep; whereas in Mecheri they were 0.476, 0.372 and 0.152 at 177624 G>A, and 0.629, 0.314 and 0.057 at 177878 G>A, respectively. Likewise the estimated allele frequencies of G and A were 0.5355 and 0.4645 at 177624 G>A, and 0.5790 and 0.4210 at 177878 G>A in Madras Red sheep; whereas in Mecheri they were 0.6620 and 0.3380 at 177624 G>A, and 0.7860 and 0.2140 at 177878 G>A, respectively. The effect of sex was significant for birth, six and nine month weight; but non-significant for three and 12 month weight in Mecheri sheep. However, in the Madras Red breed the effect of sex was significant for all body weights except weaning weight. The effect of variations on growth traits, viz., birth weight, weight at weaning, and weight at six, nine and twelve months in both breeds were analysed for their association, and they were found non-significant. Since these SNPs are salient findings of GHR gene polymorphism in Indian sheep breeds, further investigation is required into the significant effects of these novel SNPs, which could be useful for genetic improvement based on marker assisted selection.