Genetic variants in 5′UTR and exonic region of NPY gene alter the reproduction performance in Indian cattle breeds

Abstract

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), a neurotransmitter of the central nervous system, was identified to play a key role in the feed energy homeostasis in animals and is highly conserved in evolution which indicates its basic physiological role in metabolism (Alam et al., 2012;Blomqvist et al., 1992). The gene expression levels of NPY regulate feed intake in cattle. It plays a significant role in a number of biological pathways regulating appetite, feeding behaviour and energy homoeostasis in humans and animals (Tatemoto et al., 1982;White, 1993). NPY is known to be involved in the central regulation of food intake, energy homeostasis and reproductive function, and is one of the mediators of leptin as a protein expressed by adipocytes (Thue & Buchanan, 2004). It is the most important peptide which has some important relation with behaviour and physiology of animals.SNPs are the most abundant genetic variation occurring in regulatory, exon and intronic regions of genes. Polymorphism in candidate genes and their associations with economically important traits can aid in identifying useful quantitative traits nucleotides for marker