Open Access
Copyright: The authors. This article is an open access
article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) which permits unrestricted use,
distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly
cited.
Research
1. Molecular marker within Major histocompatibility
complex linked with general growth in sheep
-
Manzoor R. Mir and H. Geldermann
Veterinary World 2(7): 253-257
Abstract
The genetic
diversity of a microsatellite marker
linked to MHC-DRB1 gene in German Merino sheep was studied and
association of this marker with growth trait in German sheep was
ascertained. This experiment constituted four consecutive
lambing among seven Merinoland rams
and 249 ewes and a total of 16 MHC-DRB1 microsatellite alleles
were detected, ranging from 353 bp to
857 bp.
For ewes carrying the allele 394 and 857 bp the
birth weight of lambs was about 400 g higher as compared to the
residual group of ewes. Additionally, some genotype classes in
ewes and rams too have variant effect on the growth traits in
sheep. The observed associations could be due to differences in
disease resistance, cell recognition or tissue differentiations
between carriers of various MHC haplotypeswhich
can in-turn affect the individual growth performance.
Key words:
Sheep, DRB1, Microsatellite,
Growth, QTL, MHC
