Molecular Characterization of Coding Region of Lactoferrin Gene of Malabari and Attappady Black Goats of Kerala

Abstract

Lactoferrin (Lf), an iron binding glycoprotein mainly found in the secretions of the body like milk, tears, saliva, pancreatic juice, bile, genital fluids etc is well noted for its role in innate immunity as well as biological functions like antibacterial, antifungal, anti-tumorigenic, antiviral and other metal binding properties. The present study unveils the molecular characterization of coding region of lactoferrin (Lf) gene of Malabari and Attappady Black goat breeds of Kerala, which are reputed for their sturdiness and resistance to diseases. Thirty minutes post milking milk samples from early lactating goats of both the breeds were collected for RNA isolation followed by cDNA synthesis and subsequent amplification of partial coding region of Lf gene. The amplicons were sequenced and the sequences were analyzed using various bioinformatics tools. A 1914 bp long partial coding region encoding 638 amino acids was obtained for Malabari goats while that of Attappady Black goat yielded 1975 bp encoding 657 amino acids. The sequences of both the breeds were 94-99% similar to Lf gene of other ruminant species. Eight nucleotide variations were observed in Malabari whereas ten variations were seen in the nucleotide sequences of Attappady Black when compared with