Detection of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy-Related Prion Protein Gene Promoter Polymorphisms in Local Turkish Cattle

Abstract

Polymorphisms in open reading frames of the prion protein gene (PRNP) have been shown to be associated with prion disease susceptibility in humans, sheep, and mice. Studies in recent years have demonstrated a similar effect of PRNP promoter and intron-1 polymorphisms on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) susceptibility in cattle. In this study, the deletion/insertion (indel) polymorphisms of the bovine PRNP gene within the promoter sequence (23 bp) and intron 1 (12 bp) were analyzed in local Turkish cattle. For this, 150 animals belonging to three different local breeds-the South Anatolian red, the East Anatolian red, and the Turkish gray-were tested using DNA purification and polymerase chain reaction. The ins allele in the 12 bp indel, which is associated with low susceptibility to BSE, showed a high frequency in all three breeds. The low-susceptibility allele of the 23-bp indel was identified in Turkish gray cattle with a frequency of 0.80. Results of the study have shown that local Turkish cattle might have an important genetic value for selection against BSE.