Polymorphism of the Exons of Growth Hormone(GH) Gene in Goose

The DNA polymorphisms of the exons of growth hormone(GH) gene in five goose breeds(Rhin goose,Sichuan White goose,Huoyan goose,Wanxi White goose and Landes goose) were investigated.Based on the conserved regions between goose and duck,three pairs of primers targeting exons 2,3 and 5 were designed,and single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) were detected by single strand conformation polymorphism(SSCP).Two single nucleotide polymorphism sites were detected in exon 2.T39C,a synonymous substitution,did not cause the change of amino acids,but a nonsynonymous substitution T74C resulted in the amino acid variation of V25A.Ten allele combinations(AA,AB,AC,AD,BB,BC,BD,CC,CD,DD) were detected in the five breeds.The result of χ2 analysis revealed that the distribution of ten allele combinations varied among breeds(P0.01).All breeds were in accordance with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.The heterozygosity and effective number of alleles were the least in Landes goose,and the highest in Huoyan goose.Landes goose′ s PIC was zero,Sichuan White goose′ s was intermediate,and the others were high.The results indicated that the GH gene had high polymorphisms in goose breeds,and could be a candidate gene for analyzing the association between its DNA polymorphism and production traits in goose.