Investigation of GH and GHR Alu I gene polymorphisms on meat yields in Anatolian water buffalo breed using PCR-RFLP method

The Anatolian water buffalo is a native water buffalo breed only being reared in Turkey. The objective of this study was to investigate gene polymorphisms on exons 4 and 5 of the growth hormone (GH) and on exon 10 of the growth hormone receptor (GHR), which are thought to be related to meat yields of Anatolian water buffalo. Blood samples of 192 water buffaloes from Sivas Province were used in DNA extractions by phenol-chloroform method. DNA samples were amplified by using specific pruners in PCR. PCR products were digested by Alu I (GH, n: 167) and Alu I (GHR, n: 192) restriction enzymes in order to determine polymorphisms. Digested PCR products were separated in 2.5%-3% agarose gel electrophoresis to determine allelic polymorphisms. As a result, the LL (78.44%) and LV (21.56%) genotypes and L (0.89) and V (0.11) alleles for the GH gene and the AA (7.81%) and AG (92.19%) genotypes and A (0.54) and G (0.46) alleles for the GHR gene were obtained. Gene polymorphisms were not detected (P > 0.05) on the Gil gene, but a significant difference was found for the GHR gene (P < 0.001). Therefore, it can be said that Anatolian water buffaloes have increased meat yield due to the presence of genotypes in gene regions. This was the first investigation of enzyme polymorphisms of the GHR gene in Anatolian water buffaloes.