آناليز ملكولي ژن كالپاستاتين در گله هاي گوسفند كرماني

Molecular analysis of Calpastatin gene in Kermani sheep herds

Calpastatin (CAST) is a specific inhibitor of the ubiquitous calcium-dependent proteases - fi-calpain and m-calpain, found in mammalian tissues. The level of components included into the calpain-calpastatin system determines the rate of postmortem tenderization of meat. Calpastatin inhibits both the rate and extent of postmortem proteolysis and plays a role in muscle growth and meat quality. Kermani sheep is gene pool reservation in Kerman province and suitable for meat and wool production that until now has not been studied using molecular markers, especially with the view of calpastatin gene. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the genetic diversity of calpastatin gene in Kermani sheep herds and to compare this breed with other sheep breeds that were determined for this trait. The 622 bp fragment of this gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from DNA samples of 100 Kermani sheep. Polymerase chain reaction products were characterized by the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) technique using two restriction enzymes, Mspl, and Ncol, yielding all 3 genotypes, MM, MN and NN. The results of this experiment indicated that this population is highly polymorphic, furthermore in the most studied Iranian sheep breeds, all 3 genotypes of this gene have not been detected whereas we detected all 3 genotypes, and hence researchers must increase attention to meat quality and quantity in breeding programs of this breed. Because, polymorphism in this breed is high and there are all three genotypes in their population, we can simply achieve effect of any genotype in increasing of meat quantity and quality with information recording and genotyping in next studies and select the best genotypes in breeding programs.