Full Length Research Paper

Comparison of bovine lymphocyte antigen DRB3.2 allele frequencies between two subpopulations of Iranian holstein cattle

Mohammad Reza Nassiry¹*, Balal Sadeghi¹, Reza Tohidi⁴, Jalil Tavakkoli Afshari ² and Mahdi Khosravi³

¹Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

²Bu Ali Research Institute Immunogenetic and Tissue Culture Department, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

³Department of Animal Science, Azad University of Kashmar, Kashmar, Iran.

⁴Agricultural Research Center of Kermanshah, Kermanshah, Iran.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: nassiryr@um.ac.ir.

Accepted 28 January, 2008

The bovine lymphocyte antigen (BoLA-DRB3) gene encodes cell surface glycoproteins that initiate immune responses by presenting processed antigenic peptides to CD4 T helper cells. DRB3 is the most polymorphic bovine MHC class II gene which encodes the peptide-binding groove. Since different alleles favor the binding of different peptides, DRB3 has been extensively evaluated as a candidate marker for associations with various bovine diseases and immunological traits. Therefore, in this study, the genetic diversity of the bovine class II DRB3 locus in the two Iranian subpopulations of Holstein cattle (Moghan farm n = 250 and Razavi farm n = 175) was investigated by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method (PCR-RFLP). Bovine DNA was isolated from whole blood. A hemi-nested PCR followed by digestion with restriction endonucleases RsaI, HaeIII and BstYI was conducted on the DNA. The results indicated that exon 2 of the BoLA-DRB3 gene is highly polymorphic in the two populations, and the frequency of BoLA-DRB3 depends on breed. On the other hand the presence of BoLA-DRB3*8, *24, and *16 alleles with high frequency in BoLA-DRB3.2 system, can be used as appellative index for nominate Holstein.  

Key words: BoLA-DRB3.2, bovine lymphocyte antigen, PCR- RFLP, Iranian Holstein cattle, polymorphism.