Analysis of rabbit growth hormone gene polymorphisms to evaluate its impact on live body weight, hemato and biochemical parameters

Hormone (GH) promotes the growth and metabolism in mammals. Polymorphisms of this 
gene associated with production traits have been studied in many livestock. The objective of this 
study was to investigate the polymorphism in the part of growth intron 1, exon 2 and part of intron 
2 of the rabbit GH gene and evaluate its effect on salutary body weight, some blood hemato and 
biochemical parameters. Therefore, twenty four rabbits consisting of 12 ♀ and 12♂ were randomly 
selected from each line to collect blood samples for DNA extraction and analysis of hemato and 
biochemical parameters. Specific –PCR was performed to amplify 345bp fragment of GH gene. 
Genotyping of the gene was carried out using Single Stranded Conformational Polymorphism 
(SSCP). The results revealed that two alleles (A and B) with AA and AB genotypes found in the two 
populations. The most frequent genotype was AB in Alexandria line while AA genotype was the 
predominant in V line. GH locus was more informative in Alexandria than V line. AB genotype 
showed higher significant differences as compared with AA ones in the most studied traits. The 
males and Alexandria line always exhibited higher score in the most traits in compareison with 
females and V line, respectively. The above results were found to be associated with histological 
examination data as jejunum villi, crypt depth and intestinal musculosa were significantly increased 
with AB genotype and Alex line. So, Screening of rabbit GH gene by PCR-SSCP for evaluation of 
its polymorphism with some economic traits may be useful to apply this gene as a marker-assisted 
selection in rabbit breeding programs.