Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of κ-casein (Κ-cn) gene of indigenous cattle of Assam

The study was conducted to investigate the polymorphism in κ-Casein (κ-Cn) gene in indigenous cattle of Assam. Genomic DNA from 53 indigenous cattle was extracted and used to study the polymorphism in κ-Cn gene using Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCRRFLP) technique. A PCR product of 351 bp obtained upon amplification was subsequently digested with restriction endonuclease HinfI and yieldedtwo types of restriction pattern; three fragments of 131, 131 and 89 bp representing AA genotype and, four fragments of 262, 131, 131 and 89 bp representing AB genotype. The frequencies of alleles A and B were found to be 0.6510 and 0.3491 and those of AA and AB genotypes 0.4237 and 0.4545 respectively. The population under study did not show the presence of genotype BB for κ-Cn locus. From the present study it could be concluded that the frequency of allele A was higher than that of allele B in the indigenous cattle with a higher frequency of AB genotype (AB>AA) and Chi-square (χ) test revealed that the population under study was not in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium.