Study on Genetic Polymorphism of IGFBP-3 Gene in Egyptian Buffalo

Aim: The present work was carried out to study the genetic characteristics of the IGFBP-3 gene in buffaloes reared in Egypt, where it is considered as one of the important molecular markers for productivity traits like growth and immunity in livestock species. One-hundred animals were used in this research work.

Methods: The studied gene was amplified through polymerase chain reaction technique. Afterwards, the amplified fragment at 651-bp was digested with three different endonucleases; HaeIII, MspI, and TaqI. The genetic character of the IGFBP-3 gene was studied by using PCR-RFLP and nucleotide sequencing.

Results: The PCR products after the digestion with those restriction enzymes revealed that the presence of the following fragments: two fragments at 506- and 145-bp with MspI two fragments at 240- and 411-bp with TaqI; and eight fragments at 199-, 164-, 154-, 56-, 36-, 18-, 16- and 8-bp with HaeIII. The restriction digestion of the amplified fragments of the IGFBP-3 gene did not show a genetic polymorphism or nucleotide substitution where all restricted fragments yielded from the digestion with three restriction enzymes were of the same sizes.

Conclusion: Our findings indicated that the absence of the genetic polymorphism of the IGFBP-3 gene in Egyptian buffalo. Based on our results in addition to the significant effect of this gene on different productivity traits, the crossing between Egyptian buffalo with other breeds, particularly the Italian breed, is needed for more improvements of Egyptian buffalo's productivity where the Italian buffaloes characterized by high growth and fertility phenomena.