Molecular Assessment of Evolutionary Divergence of Myostatin Gene in Bikaneri Camel and Marwari Goat Agrawal Vijay Kumar1,*, Gahlot Gyanchand1, Dhakad Govind Singh1, Thakur Sonal2, Khicher Jaiprakash1 1Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India 2Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India *Corresponding author: VK Agrawal; Email: drvijayvet2016@rediffmail.com
Online published on 27 March, 2019. Abstract The growth regulating myostatin gene (MSTN) is considered to be conserved between species of vertebrate animals. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to explore within and between species genetic diversity for exon 2 of MSTN gene in Marwari goat (Capra hircus) and Bikaneri camel (Camelus dromedarius). Genomic DNA was isolated from whole blood (2ml) through spin column method. A common primer pair was used to amplify the exon 2 region of MSTN gene in Marwari goat (n=42) and Bikaneri camels (n=56). Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was carried out with Hae III restriction enzyme to explore the genetic divergence. Representative (n=5) amplified fragments of MSTN exon 2 region of both the species were sequenced through Sanger dideoxy chain termination method. RFLP analysis in both species revealed similar restriction information (mm genotype) indicating the absence of intra and interspecies variation. Sequence analysis of MSTN exon 2 region within each species also revealed absence of within species variation. However, interspecies variation between Marwari goat and Bikaneri camel were observed in the form of nine SNP's in exon 2 of MSTN gene. Two SNP's at 70th and 118th position were found to be non-synonymous with predicted amino acids of tyrosine and glutamine in Bikaneri camel instead of histidine and lysine in Marwari goat, respectively. The results concluded that sequence comparison of myostatin gene of Marwari goat and Bikaneri camel could be used for better understanding of divergent evolution of species in similar agro climatic conditions. Top Keywords Camel, goat, myostatin, molecular analysis. Top |