Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVIII, Issue 2
Written by Ivona DIMITROVA, Nevyana STANCHEVA, Milena BOZHILOVA-SAKOVA, Todor TZONEV, Radena NENOVA
Fertility is of great importance for the profitability of sheep farming as its traits are under the genetic control of several key genes known as fertility genes (Fec) among which is GDF9 (Growth Differentiation Factor 9). The aim of this study is to determine the presence or absence of polymorphism in SNP G1 of the GDF9 gene in rams of two Bulgarian breeds with different productive direction. 43 rams from the Bulgarian dairy synthetic population (breed for milk, with good fertility) and 44 rams from the North-East Bulgarian Merino breed (for wool and meat, with lower fertility) were included in the study. Using the PCR-RFLP method, 462 bp fragments of exon 1 of the gene were amplified and with subsequent treatment with the restriction enzyme Hhal, two alleles were identified in both breeds - wild G and mutant A. All three possible genotypes - GG, AG and AA - were found in rams from the more fertile BDSP breed, while only GG and AG were found in rams from the less fertile NEBM breed.
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