Allelic variants of PRNP in 16 Chinese local sheep breeds.

Here, polymorphisms of the ovine prion protein gene were analyzed in 486 Chinese sheep from 16 main local breeds. Polymorphisms R or H at codons 154 and four polymorphisms at codon 171 encoding Q, R, H, or K were identified. The A/V polymorphism at codon 136 was not observed, and all sheep were homozygous for A at this position. In addition, ten polymorphisms at codons 21, 101, 112, 127, 138, 141, 143, 146, 153 and 189 were detected. The predominant Q allele occurred at codon 171, with a high frequency of 88.68 %, implying a risk of scrapie in China.