Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

GENETIC VARIATION WITHIN THE MELATONIN RECEPTOR 1C (MTNR1C) GENE IN THE NATIVE CHICKEN ‘ZO-AR’ OF MIZORAM, INDIA

Princelina Bora, T.C. Tolenkhomba, Purabi Kaushik and N. Shyamsana Singh

Abstract

The study has been aimed to uncover the presence of polymorphism within the MTNR1C gene in native chicken population, ‘Zo-ar’ of the Mizoram state of India and to calculate the allelic and genotypic frequency to screen the variation present within the population with respect to the MTNR1C gene which is associated with various egg production traits in poultry. DNA extraction has been done with the help of blood samples collected from a total of 50 randomly chosen ‘Zo-ar’ chicken irrespective of age or sex from different regions of Mizoram. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay has been used for the detection of SNPs within the MTNR1C gene. Two genotypes AG (0.34) and GG (0.66) have been detected for the MTNR1C gene in the ‘Zo-ar’ chicken population while the AA (0.00) genotype was found to be completely absent in the present study. The G allele (0.83) was found to be predominantly present in the populations. Further, the population was found to be conforming to the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium with respect to the MTNR1C locus. From the present study the presence of variation within the MTNR1C locus was seen in the ‘Zo-ar’ chicken of Mizoram. This indicates the possibility of genetic improvement in egg production traits by using proper selection methods and formulating appropriate mating systems.