Analysis of POU1F1 gene DdeI polymorphism in Chinese goats.

As a member of the POU-domain family, the POU1F1 is a positive regulator for growth hormone, prolactin and thyroid-stimulating hormone b, by binding to target DNA promoters as a dimer in mammals. This study described the polymorphisms at the goat POU1F1-DdeI locus and analyzed the distribution of alleles in 15 indigenous Chinese goat breeds. The PCR-RFLP analysis showed a predominance of the D1D1 genotype and the D1 allele, with average frequencies of 0.550 and 0.790, respectively, irrespective of goat utility type. The D1D2 genotype was the second most frequent, with a mean frequency of 0.371. The distributions of genotypic and allelic frequencies at this locus were found to be significantly different among populations based on a Chi square test (P < 0.001), suggesting that the breed factor significantly affected the molecular genetic character of the POU1F1 gene. The genetic diversity analysis revealed that Chinese indigenous populations had a wide spectrum of genetic diversity at the goat POU1F1-DdeI locus. However, an ANOVA analysis revealed no significant differences in gene homozygosity, gene heterozygosity, effective allele numbers, or polymorphism information content among meat, dairy, and cashmere utility types (P > 0.05). This suggests that the goat utility types had no significant effect on the spectrum of genetic diversity.