Kappa-casein gene study in Iranian Sistani cattle breed (Bos indicus) using PCR-RFLP.

In cattle, caseins are subdivided into four main groups: alphaS1-, alphaaS2-, beta- and kappa-caseins. kappa-caseins (CSN2) considerably differ from other caseins in structure and other properties. Testing the A and B alleles is of practical importance, because the milk of cows that carry the B allele of CSN3 has a better thermal resistance and shorter coagulation time, better curdles and contains micelles of different sizes. Iranian Sistani cattle (Bos indicus) are a heavy built breed and used as dual-purpose cattle breed in Eastern Iran. This breed is a genetic resource that shows special features of adaptation to rustic environments. One of the most distinctive features of Sistani cattle is its great capability to resist diseases which makes it a potential reservoir of germplasm useful for future crosses. Our main goal was to study DNA-polymorphism of the CSN3 gene in the Iranian Sistani native cattle (Bos indicus) and analyze the information value of CSN3 gene polymorphism as a genetic marker. We genotyped and analyzed 65 animals of this breed using PCR-RFLP. The frequencies of A and B alleles were 0.6385 and 0.3615 and those of AA, AB and BB genotypes were 0.4000, 0.4769 and 0.1231, respectively. In the Sistani Zebu breed, frequency of B allele is higher than other Zebu breeds, indicating that intensive selection for dairy production have been done and indirectly influenced CSN3 allele frequencies.