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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Lactoferrin gene variants, their expression in the udder and mastitis susceptibility in dairy cattle

Adrianna Pawlik A , Grażyna Sender A C , Magdalena Sobczyńska A , Agnieszka Korwin-Kossakowska A , Henryka Lassa B and Jolanta Oprządek A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, 05-552 Magdalenka, Poland.

B National Veterinary Research Institute, Department of Pathophysiology of Reproduction and Mammary Gland, Bydgoszcz, Poland.

C Corresponding author. Email: g.sender@ighz.pl

Animal Production Science 55(8) 999-1004 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN13389
Submitted: 20 September 2013  Accepted: 20 May 2014   Published: 15 September 2014

Abstract

Lactoferrin gene (LF) is regarded as one of the potential markers of mastitis susceptibility/resistance in dairy cattle. The study’s aim was therefore, to investigate the feasibility of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), placed in the 5′-flanking region and 3′-untranslated region of the LF gene, to serve as mastitis markers. The associations between these SNP and the expression of LF, both on mRNA and protein level, were estimated in the milk of Polish Holstein-Friesian cows. The relationships between polymorphisms and cows’ estimated breeding values (EBV) for somatic cell count were also calculated. It was shown that both polymorphisms have a significant impact on lactoferrin content in milk, and that LF+32 SNP is associated with the cow’s EBV for somatic cell count. No association between SNP chosen for the study and lactoferrin mRNA abundance in milk somatic cells was observed. We propose LF+32 SNP for a molecular marker of mastitis resistance in dairy cows.

Additional keywords: breeding value, somatic cell count.


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