title: Focusing on the goat casein complex.
abstract: The analysis of casein polymorphisms in goat species is rather difficult, because of a large number of mutations at each locus, and the tight linkage involving the 4 casein genes. Three goat breeds from Northern Italy, Orobica, Verzasca, and Frisa, were analyzed at the casein complex by milk isoelectrofocusing and analyses at the DNA level to identify the majority of all known polymorphisms. The casein gene structure of the 3 local breeds at alpha(S1)-casein (CSN1S1), beta-casein (CSN2), alpha(S2)-casein (CSN1S2), and kappa-casein (CSN3) was compared with that of Camosciata, a more widely distributed breed. A new allele was identified and characterized at CSN2 gene, which seemed to be specific to the Frisa breed. It was named CSN2*E, and was characterized by a transversion TCT --> TAT responsible for the amino acid exchange Ser(166) --> Tyr(166) in the mature protein. The casein haplotype structure is highly different among breeds. A total of 26 haplotypes showed a frequency higher than 0.01 in at least 1 of the 4 breeds considered, with 12, 3, 5, and 19 haplotypes in Frisa, Orobica, Verzasca, and Camosciata breeds, respectively. Only 13 haplotypes occurred at a frequency higher than 0.05 in at least 1 breed. With the molecular knowledge of each locus, the ancestral haplotype coding for CSN1S1*B, CSN2*A, CSN1S2*A, and CSN3*B protein variants can be postulated. A protein evolutionary model considering the whole casein haplotype is proposed.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Brescia, Viale Europa 11, 25123 Brescia, Italy. anna.caroli@unimi.it
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caroli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chiatti
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chessa
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rignanese
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bolla
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pagnacco
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002364:Caseins / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006041:Goats / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D007525:Isoelectric Focusing; D007558:Italy; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational
chemical_list: D002364:Caseins; D004247:DNA