Genetic polymorphism of beta-lactoglobulin gene in native Turkish sheep breeds.

The genetic polymorphism of the beta-lactoglobulin gene was investigated in three native Turkish sheep breeds. The study was carried out on 108 sheep (29 Kivircik, 38 Gökçeada, and 41 Sakiz) by means of PCR-RFLP methods. Two genetic variants (A and B) and three genotypes (AA, AB, and BB) of beta-lactoglobulin have been identified. The gene frequencies of beta-LG A and B were 0.7759 and 0.2241 in Kivircik, 0.7632 and 0.2368 in Gökçeada, and 0.9756 and 0.0244 in Sakiz breeds, respectively. The populations were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in all samples from the three breeds.