Determination of calpastatin gene polymorphism by PCR-RFLP method in awassi and Akkaraman sheep raised by public in Osmaniye province

In this study, it was aimed to determine the CAST gene polymorphism and gene and genotype frequencies of Awassi and Akkaraman sheep bred within the scope of public breeding project in Osmaniye. It was carried out on a total of 100 Awassi sheep, 20 each from 5 different animal farms, and on a total of 100 Akkaraman sheep, 20 each from 5 different animal farms in Osmaniye. As a result of digesting 622 bp long CAST gene amplicons amplified from genomic DNA samples of Awassi and Akkaraman sheep breeds with MspI restriction enzyme, two bands with a length of 336, and 286 bp were observed for the homozygous MM allele, a single band with a length of 622 bp for the homozygous NN allele, and three bands with a length of 622, 336, and 286 bp for the heterozygous MN allele. While the frequencies of M and N alleles were calculated as 0.82 and 0.18, respectively, in Akkaraman breeds, the frequencies were calculated as 0.75 and 0.25 in the same order in Awassi breeds. While deviation in Hardy-Weinberg balance was found to be insignificant in Akkaraman population, it was significant in Awassi sheep. Keywords: CAST gene, Awassi sheep, Akkaraman sheep, Polymorphism, Genotype frequencies.