Frequency of Bovine Lymphocyte Antigen DRB3.2 Alleles in Sarabi Cows

Abstract

The second exon of the bovine Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class II DRB3 gene was amplified<br />by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from 50 DNA samples of Iranian Sarabi cattle. Bovine DNA was isolated<br />from aliquots of whole blood. A two-step polymerase chain reaction followed by digestion with<br />restriction endonucleases RsaI, BstyI, and HaeIII was conducted on DNA from samples. Fifteen Bovine<br />Lymphocyte Antigen (BoLA)-DRB3 alleles were assigned, including some that were only recently<br />described for zebu cattle. Allelic frequencies ranged from 0.02 to 0.23. The most frequent alleles were *52<br />(frequency = 0.23), *11 (0.18) and *23 (0.15). Results of this study demonstrate that the BoLA-DRB3.2 locus<br />is highly polymorphic in Sarabi cattles.<br /><br />