Detection of SNPs in FABP4 Gene and Its Relationship with Milk Quality Traits in Iraqi Jenoubi Cows

Jenoubi cattle breed classified as a Bos indicus L., is one of Iraqi indigenous cattle that kept for milk production purpose, but the influence of fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) on milk-related traits remain poorly understood. The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the FABP4 gene of Jenoubi cows. The DNA samples were extracted from the blood of 21 cows. Along 565-bp nucleotide (nt) amplicon from the intron 2- exon 3- intron 3 of FABP4 was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) while forward sequencing was used to detect SNPs and results were analyzed using bioinformatics software. The findings resulted the existence of two SNPs (c.3689G>A and c.3709G>C) in the exon 3 and four SNPs (g.3494A>C, g.3531A>T, g.3743T>C and g.3765T>C) in the intron regions. Therefore, three haplotypes of FABP4 gene were obtained in this study based on three SNPs of g.3494A>C, g.3531A>T and g.3765T>C. Nonetheless, those haplotypes were not significantly influencing to the milk quality traits of Jenoubi cows. However, the SNPs examined in this study might not be used as potential DNA marker to improve milk production traits of the current breed.