The genetic control of erythrocyte reduced glutathione in Australian Merino sheep

Abstract

The genetic control of the level of reduced glutathione (GSH) in the erythrocytes of pure bred Australian Merino sheep has been investigated. The data suggest that the erythrocyte GSH levels are in part controlled by a single pair of autosomal alleles, the gene for GSH-high (OSH a ) being dominant.The data also suggest that the levels of erythrocyte GSH within the GSH-high and GSH-low types are the result of polygenic influences. Heritability estimates of 0-7 and 0-5 within the GSH-high type and 1-2 in the GSH-low type support this suggestion.

Heritability of erythrocyte reduced glutathione (GSH) in “delle Langhe” sheep

“…The high heritability obtained could be clue to such genetic control: the presence and frequency of a major gene affects heritability which generally is high (SMITH and WEBB 1981). Although in Finnish Landrace and Merino the genetic control of GSH is well established, even if some controversy remains, the results obtained suggest both the evidence of a main single gene and incomplete dominance for this trait, as suggested by others (BOARD et al 1974;ATROSHI 1979).…”

“…In Merinos the inheritance of glutathione is not clear: TUCKER and KILGOUR (1972) stated that in Tasmanian Merinos the gene for low GSH levels is dominant to that for high levels while BOARD et al (1974), from an investigation on a large number of Australian Merinos, found that the GSH deficiency is controlled by an autosomal recessive gene as in Finnish Landrace. These different results are still unexplained.…”

“…In other breeds the distinction between high and low GSH types is not clear and there is an overlap around the 50 mg/100 ml RBC level (TUCKER 1975). Moreover, environmental and genetic factors act at different sites in the metabolism of glutathione, so that the final GSH concentration in red cells represents the sum of their effects (BOARD et al 1974;ATROSHI 1979;ATROSHI 1980;BOARD and AGAR 1983).…”

Variability of reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in three different ovine populations bred in Italy1

“…Other investigators (BOARD, ROBERTS and EVANS 1974;BOARD and AGAR 1983) assumed that different GSH levels result from cumulative activity of genes that are active at different sites in the GSH metabolism.…”

Erythrocyte oxidized glutathione in Australian Merino sheep

“…Sheep with lowered or 'deficient' concentrations of erythrocyte GSH have been reprted in a number of different breeds (Tucker & Kilgour, 1970;Agar et al, 1972b;Kalla et al, 1972). Investigations by Tucker & Kilgour (1970) and Board et al (1974) suggested that this trait is inherited as an autosomal recessive allele.…”