Analysis of calpastatin and сallipyge genes polymorphism in Prydniprovska meat sheep

Aim. To study calpastatin (CAST) and сallipyge (CLPG) genes polymorphism in Prydniprovska meat sheep. Methods. The studies were conducted using PCR-RFLP method. DNA was isolated from 47 animals. The amplicons were treated with restriction endonucleases MspI and FaqI for genes CAST and CLPG, respectively. Results. The study determined the polymorphism of CAST gene fragment. Two alleles – M (336, 286 b.p.) and N (622 b.p.) with the frequency of 0.83 and 0.17, respectively, were detected. The frequency of genotypes was as follows: ММ – 0.77, MN – 0.13 and NN – 0.10. There was a noted tendency towards the increase in live bodyweight of 4-month-old lambs, carriers of N allele (genotypes NN and MN), compared to the index for the lambs of the same age with genotype MM. Locus CLPG was monomorphic, only allele A was determined (278, 117 and 31 b.p.). Allele G with the mutation, manifested in muscle hypertrophy phenotype, was not detected, all the animals under investigation had genotype AA. Conclusions. CAST gene polymorphism was deter- mined in Prydniprovska meat sheep during our work. The tendency towards the increase in live bodyweight of 90-day-old lambs, carriers of allele N, was established which demonstrated promising perspectives of further studies on associations of this gene and meat qualities of Prydniprovska meat sheep. The obtained results on the monomorphic nature of locus CLPG and the absence of mutation, related to muscle hypertrophy phenotype, demonstrated that the mutation of this gene may be built into the genome of domestic breeds of sheep only via cross-breeding with foreign breeds, in which this trait is manifested.