Genetic polymorphism of type 1 intermediate filament wool keratin gene in native Indian sheep breeds

Information is presented on the genetic polymorphism of the Type 1 intermediate filament wool keratin gene in 15 native Indian sheep breeds belonging to different agro-ecological regions of India. The study analyzed random blood samples of the 638 sheep by the PCR-RFLP technique. Restriction digestion analysis of a 480 bp PCR fragment of the first exon region with MspI revealed two allelic variants (M = 0.748 and N = 0.252) and three genotypes (MM = 0.543, MN = 0.410, and NN = 0.047) across the 15 sheep breeds. The allelic frequency differences for both alleles across the Indian breeds, irrespective of their geographic distribution, color pattern, and utility traits, were observed to be statistically insignificant by a chi-square test (P > 0.05). According to the pattern of occurrence of allelic variants (M > N), the Indian breeds exhibited similarity to some of the reported European sheep breeds. The average heterozygosity was 0.420, and none of the breeds deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The predominance of the M over the N allele supported its ancestry in Indian sheep too.