Identification of c.*1232g>a polymorphism in the MSTN gene in meat sheep breeds in Poland

The aim of the study was to identify a potential occurrance of c.*1232G>A polymorphism in the 3 (cid:48) –UTR region of the myostatin gene ( MSTN ) in sheep of meat breeds: Pomeranian sheep, Suffolk and Berrichon du Cher. The populations of Suffolk and Berrichon du Cher breeds turned out to be monomorphic, whereas in the native Pomeranian sheep, the occurrence of polymorphism in the region of the MSTN gene was demonstrated. The Pomeranian sheep were characterized by a higher frequency of the mutated A allele (0.41), the frequency of genotypes AA and GA was 0.18 and 0.46 respectively. The effect of polymorphism c.*1232G>A on the body weight of ewes on the day of license has not been observed.