Analysis of Growth Hormone Gene in Alpine and Saanen Goats Using PCR-SSCP Method

In this study the genetic polymorphism of growth hormone (GH) gene as a candidate gene in livestock was investigated. Blood samples were randomly collected from 34 Alpine and 42 Saanen goats. DNA was ex-tracted from blood samples and a 365 bp region of exon 5 of the GH gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR products were analyzed using single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) method on polyacrylamide gel. The results indicated that there are four (G1, G2, G3 and G4) conforma-tional patterns with frequencies 0.38, 0.21, 0.23 and 0.18 for Alpine goat and 0.48, 0.21, 0.17 and 0.14 for Saanen goat, respectively. These results revealed that GH gene was polymorph in this study and showed that PCR-SSCP is an appropriate tool for detecting polymorphism and evaluating genetic variability.