Ovine relaxin family peptide receptor 2 (RXFP2) gene polymorphism - no association with cryptorchidism

The polymorphism in ovine relaxin family peptide receptor 2 gene and the relevance of earlier established human and mice cryptorchidism associated SNP's in Mandya and Hassan Sheep was studied. Genomic DNA was extracted from 60 cryptorchid and 80 normal unrelated sheep. Two sets of primers were designed to amplify exon 8 and exon 12-13 regions of ovine RXFP2 gene. SSCP revealed no polymorphism at exon 8, exon 12 and exon 13 of ovine RXFP2 indicating absence of T222P in exon 8 and D294G in exon 12 as reported in human and mice cryptorchids respectively. A novel SNP (KF527573.1, 171T>A) in intron12 of ovine RXFP2 was observed. The sheep population studied was in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium for the genotypes of the SNP. The distribution of genotypes was significantly different for Hassan and Mandya sheep breeds. However, the SNP in both the breeds studied was not associated with the cryptorchid phenotype.