IDENTIFICATION OF MYOSTATIN GENE c.960delG LOCUS POLYMORPHISM IN INDONESIAN LOCAL SHEEP BY USING PCR-SSCP METHOD

Abstract

Myostatin (MSTN) is a protein inhibit muscle growth. This protein is a member of a superfamily of molecules called transforming growth factors beta (TGF-b). Deletion in c.960delG (1-bp deletion at position 960) disrupts the reading frame from amino acid (aa) position 320 to ending in a premature stop codon in aa position 359 have been found in Norwegian White Sheep. This deletion in the myostatin gene is responsible to increase muscle mass, also known as 'double muscling', in sheep. The purpose of this study was to identify the polymorphism of myostatin gene in c.960delG locus of local sheep in Indonesia. The 832 DNA sampels from sheep were collected from 13 populations belonging to the Priangan (86), Javanese Thin Tail (389 i.e. Jonggol, Banjar, Ciomas), Javanese Fat Tail (94), West Nusa Tenggara (136), Rote Island/East Nusa Tenggara (35), Kisar Island/Southwest Maluku (22), Donggala/South East Celebes (45) and Batur cross breed/Wonosobo, Central Java (25). A gene fragment of MSTN c.960delG length 299 bp was successfully amplified by using the technique of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and genotyped by SSCP (single strand conformation polymorphism). The result showed no polymorphism in this gene. All sheep tested had G/G genotype for c.960delG locus. Keywords: local sheep, myostatin c.960delG locus, PCR-SSCP