Allelic Frequency of Kappa-Casein, Growth Hormone and Prolactin Gene in Holstein, Brown Swiss and Simmental Cattle Breeds in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to examine the kappa-casein (kappa-CN), growth hormone (bGH) and prolactin hormone (PRL) gene polymorphisms in the Holstein (n=150), Simmental (n=50) and Brown Swiss (n=50) cattle breeds in Turkey. In order to determine the kappa-CN-HindIII, PRL-RsaI and bGH-AluI polymorphisms, polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) were performed. A 443 bp fragment of kappa-CN, a 223 bp fragment of bGH and a 156 bp fragment of PRL were amplified. In this study, two types of alleles, A and B for kappa-CN, V and L for bGH, and A and B for PRL, were observed. The cattle breeds in which the highest frequencies of the alleles were estimated, were the HL breed (0.82) for kappa-CN-A, the BS breed (0.55) for kappa-CN-B, the HL breed (0.85) for bGH-L, the S breed (0.34) for bGH-V, the HL breed (0.87) for PRL-A, and the BS breed (0.24) for PRL-B. According to the results of the chi-square test, a significant deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was determined only for the bGH locus in the investigated breeds. The present study is the first report that examines three loci (kappa-CN, bGH and PRL) in three cattle breeds of European origin (Holstein, Simmental and Brown Swiss) raised in Turkey.