Association of pituitary specific transcription factor-1 (POU1F1) gene polymorphism with growth and biometric traits and blood metabolites in Iranian Zel and Lori-Bakhtiari sheep

The pituitary-specific positive transcription factor 1 (POU1F1) gene has been the subject of many recent studies because of its important roles in growth and development of mammals. In this study, we investigated the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the third exon of POU1F1 gene and its association with growth and biometric traits and blood metabolites in two Iranian sheep breeds, Zel and Lori-Bakhtiari. Blood samples from 90 Lori-Bakhtiari and 90 Zel sheep were collected to extract DNA and the 295-bp fragment of the POU1F1 gene was amplified and the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) technique was adopted for genotyping. A SNP was identified in both Lori-Bakhtiari and Zel sheep breeds, which represents a non-synonymous single base mutation at restriction site for endonuclease AciI. The results revealed differential frequencies of alleles between the two studied breeds, where A allele was more frequent in Lori-Bakhtiari breed, while G allele was more frequent in Zel breed. When POU1F1 genotypes were tested, the animals with AA genotype had a higher weaning weight than those with GG genotype (p < 0.05), however there were not significant association between genotypes and birth weight, biometric traits (body length, body height, heart girth, thigh girth and abdominal girth) and blood metabolites (triglyceride and cholesterol) of the studied breeds (p > 0.05). These findings imply that the POU1F1 polymorphism may affect weaning weight, thus can be used as a molecular marker for this production trait.