Polymorphism of genetic variability of MUC1 gene in sheep

The interest that MUC1 mucin holds in dairy species derives from possible relationship among the length of variants and important traits like the mechanism of lipid secretion, the milk fat content and the resistance to mastitis determinants. An investigation was undertaken with the aim of characterizing the repetitive region of MUC1 gene in sheep. Four different PCR fragments, with an average length equal to 1500 bp, were identified on agarose gel, each individual sheep showing one or two bands, in accordance with the polymorphic model previously observed for MUC1 gene of human, cattle and goat. The analysis of the sequence indicated that the repetitive region of MUC1 gene in sheep is an array of 60 bp units tandemly repeated, as in human, cattle and goat. The obtained results represent the first contribution to the knowledge of the structure of the sheep MUC1 gene and will allow to elaborate specific analytic protocol for investigating its polymorphism in different breeds.