Genetic Polymorphism Detection of the Exon 1 Region of Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase Alpha Gene in Iranian Mahabadi Goat Breed

Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase α (ACC-alpha) is considered as the key regulatory enzyme in fatty acid biosynthesis. ACC-alpha gene is located on Caprine chromosome 11 and is polymorphic in many goat breeds. In the current study, we aimed to find possible single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the exon 1 region of the ACC-alpha gene in Iranian Mahabadi goat breed. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples of 150 Mahabadi does. The exon 1 region of the ACC-alpha gene was amplified to produce a 390 bp fragment. The PCR products were analyzed by both polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) techniques. RFLP was performed utilizing HinfI endonuclease enzyme. No polymorphism was observed after digestion of the PCR products using HinfI. However, SSCP of the PCR products revealed two conformation patterns at the exon 1 region of goat ACC-alpha gene with frequencies of 86% and 14%, respectively. Sequencing the observed conformation patterns presented more than 10 SNPs compared with its reported squences in the exon 1 region of ovine ACC-alpha gene. Most observed polymorphic sites did not follow the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Sequence results indicated more similarity in the exon 1 of the ACC-alpha gene among indigenous sheep and goat breeds.