Detection of Growth Hormone (GH) Gene Polymorphism in Norduz Sheep

Background: The Norduz sheep is a local breed of sheep bred for its meat, milk, progeny and fleece and is one of the genetic resources in the rural areas of Norduz, a district of the Turkish province of Van. The PCR-based method involves amplification of a conserved DNA region and digestion of the PCR products with DNA restriction endonucleases throughout the genome. Based on the
resulting polymorphisms, statistical methods can be used to identify the desired genotypes among the alleles found. The objective of this study was to identify the polymorphisms of the growth hormone gene and determine their association with six growth traits in Norduz sheep. Methods: Out of 50 Norduz sheep, three different loci, GHY1, GHY2 and GHY3 (with the length of 599, 690 and 679 bp respectively) of GH gene on chromosome 11 of sheep genome were selected to identify polymorphisms among individuals using the PCR-RFLP
technique (GH/MspI). Result: In this research study, no polymorphisms were detected after digesting three loci of the GH gene with the enzyme MspI. The 50 individuals of Norduz sheep had only AB genotypes for all three loci, indicating that no polymorphisms were present in the regions
of the GH genes studied.