Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the callipyge gene (CLPG) polymorphism in sheep of Edilbay, Volgograd, and Kalmyk breeds.
Materials and Methods: The analysis was performed by the polymerase chain reaction–restric¬tion fragment length polymorphisms method. The objects of the study were Edilbay fat-tailed sheep (n = 500) at the breeding plant Volgograd-Edilbay (Volgograd region), Volgograd fine-wool sheep (n = 500) at the breeding plant Romashkovskiy (Volgograd region), and Kalmyk fat-tailed sheep (n = 500) at the breeding plant Kirovsky (the Republic of Kalmykia, Yashkul rayon). To conduct the research, tissue samples of 1 cm² from sheep of Kalmyk and Edilbay breeds were taken from the auricle.
Results: The allelic CLPG gene variants have been determined and genotypes of representative sampling of the three breeds of livestock grown in the steppe zone of Russia. The presented results of the CLPG gene polymorphism in these sheep breeds grown in Russia were obtained for the first time. The research study has revealed that in terms of the CLPG gene, the Edilbay, Volgograd, and Kalmyk sheep breeds have only a homozygous form.
Conclusion: The results obtained expand the current understanding of the molecular markers that characterize the meat qualities of sheep.

Key words: Callipyge; marker-assisted selection; PCR-RFLP; Sheep Breeding; single-nucleotide polymorphism