sequence characterization of the mc1r gene in yak (poephagus grunniens) breeds with different coat colors黑素皮质素受体基因的序列特征牦牛(poephagus grunniens)品种与不同的外套颜色.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Volume 2009, Article ID 861046, 6 pages doi:10.1155/2009/861046 Research Article Sequence Characterization of the MC1R Gene in Yak (Poephagus grunniens ) Breeds with Different Coat Colors Shi-Yi Chen,1 Yi Huang,1 Qing Zhu,1 Luca Fontanesi,2 Yong-Gang Yao,3 and Yi-Ping Liu1 1 College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agriculture University, Ya’an, Sichuan 625014, China 2 DIPROVAL, Sezione di Allevamenti Zootecnici, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bologna, Reggio Emilia 42100, Italy 3 Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China Correspondence should be addressed to Yong-Gang Yao, ygyaozh@ and Yi-Ping Liu, liuyp578@ Received 6 February 2009; Accepted 31 March 2009 Recommended by Rongjia Zhou Melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene plays a key role in determining coat color in several species, including the cattle. However, up to now there is no report regarding the MC1R gene and the potential association of its mutations with coat colors in yak (Poephagus grunniens ). In this study, we sequenced the encoding region of the MC1R gene in three yak breeds with completely white (Tianzhu breed) or black coat color (Jiulong and Maiwa breeds). The predicted coding region of the yak MC1R gene resulted of 954 bp, the same to that of the wild-type cattle sequence, with 99% identity. None of the mutation events reported in cattle was found. Comparing the yak obtained sequences, five nucleotide substitutions were detected, which defined three haplotypes (EY 1, EY2 , and EY3 ). Of the five mutations, two, characterizing the EY 1 haplotype, were nonsynonymous substitut