Sequence characterization and polymorphism detection in lactoferrin gene of Deoni (Bos indicus) cattle

Lactoferrin is an iron binding glycoprotein which plays an essential role in antimicrobial defense and a potential candidate gene in dairy cattle breeding. The present study was undertaken with the objective of sequence characterization and identification of polymorphisms within exons 2, 3 and 14 and their flanking intronic regions in lactoferrin gene of Deoni (Bos indicus) cattle by single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). Amplicons of exons 4, 5 and 16 showed monomorphic patterns. PCR-SSCP analysis revealed a total of eight different variants in three investigated regions of the lactoferrin gene. The locus LtfE2 revealed four different variants, viz. LtfE2-A, LtfE2-B, LtfE2-C and LtfE2-D with the frequency of 0.42, 0.26, 0.22 and 0.10, respectively. Analysis of exon 3 and 14 revealed two unique SSCP patterns with the frequencies of 0.54 and 0.46, 0.86 and 0.14 respectively. Comparison of nucleotide sequences of lactoferrin gene of the Deoni cattle with taurine cattle revealed a total of 12 point mutations, 11 of which were found to be in coding region with 10 transitions. Conceptualized translation of nucleotide sequence revealed 5 amino acid changes. The SNPs identified in the coding region of lactoferrin gene may serve as potential genetic marker (s) in cattle for disease resistance.