title: Polymorphism and chromosomal location of the MC4R (melanocortin-4 receptor) gene in the dog and red fox.
abstract: The melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) is expressed in the hypothalamus and regulates energy intake and body weight. In silico screening of the canine chromosome 1 sequence and a comparison with the porcine MC4R sequence by BLAST were performed. The nucleotide sequence of the whole coding region and 3'- and 5'-flanking regions of the dog (1214 bp) and red fox (1177 bp) MC4R gene was established and high conservation of the nucleotide sequences was revealed (99%). Five sets of PCR primers were designed and a search for polymorphism was performed by the SSCP technique in a group of 31 dogs representing nineteen breeds and 35 farm red foxes. Sequencing of DNA fragments, representing the identified SSCP patterns, revealed three single nucleotide polymorphisms (including a missense one) in dogs and four silent SNPs in red foxes. An average SNP frequency was approx. 1/400 bp in the dog and 1/300 bp in the red fox. We mapped the MC4R gene by FISH to the canine chromosome 1 (CFA1q1.1) and to the red fox chromosome 5 (VVU5p1.2).
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Agricultural University of Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skorczyk
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stachowiak
authors.forename: Izabela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Szczerbal
authors.forename: Jolanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klukowska-Roetzler
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schelling
authors.forename: Gaudenz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dolf
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Switonski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D033481:Chromosomes, Mammalian; D004285:Dogs / Q000235:genetics*; D005589:Foxes / Q000235:genetics*; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D044105:Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 4 / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D044105:Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 4