title: New insights into the prolactin-RsaI (PRL-RsaI) locus in Chinese Holstein cows and its effect on milk performance traits.
abstract: Prolactin (PRL) plays central roles in mammals' reproduction, gland development, milk secretion, and the expression of milk protein genes. In dairy cattle, the PRL gene is a potential quantitative trait locus and genetic marker related to milk performance traits. Here, a total of 586 randomly selected Chinese Holstein cows were genotyped for locus PRL-RsaI. One haplotype block containing eight SNPs was identified in the region from intron 3 to intron 4 of the PRL gene in Chinese Holstein cows. One tag SNP (7545 G → A) was selected to represent the haplotype block defined by the genotypic data. The cows with genotype AA of this tag SNP had a higher milk yield at 305 days (8457 ± 938 kg) than the cows with GA (7537 ± 1278 kg; P < 0.01) or GG (7757 ± 1174 kg; P < 0.05). This suggests that the haplotype block examined in this study contains important markers for milk production traits in Chinese Holstein cows.
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Science and Engineering Department, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: X M
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017849:Animals, Inbred Strains; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011388:Prolactin / Q000235:genetics*; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci
chemical_list: D011388:Prolactin