Polymorphism of the Bovine Leptin Receptor Gene in Population of Slovak Spotted Bulls

Th e objective of this study was detection of DNA polymorphism of the leptin receptor gene using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Th e SNP T945M, which maps on bovine chromosome 3 at the exon 20 of the leptin receptor sequence and corresponds to a mutation in the intracellular region of the functional protein, was also analyzed. In exon 20, a T to C missense mutation was found at nucleotide 115, which causes an amino acid substitution at residue 945 (T954M). Th e polymorphism of leptin receptor gene was studied in a group of 57 bulls of Slovak spotted breed. A strategy employing PCR was used to amplify 197 bp products from blood samples. Digestion of PCR products with restriction enzyme BseGI revealed two alleles: allele C was 130 and 67 fragments and allele T was 93, 67 and 37. Frequencies for allele C and T were 0.9737 and 0.0263, respectively and TT genotype was not detected.