Restriction endonuclease analysis of mitochondrial DNA of three farm animal species: cattle, sheep and goat.

Five restriction endonucleases (HindIII, BgIII, EcoRI, EcoRV and BamHI) were employed to analyse mitochondrial DNA of cattle, sheep and goat. The results showed completely different restriction patterns of mtDNA among the three bovid species. A total of 11, 16, and 17 restriction fragments in cattle, sheep and goat respectively, were detected by the five restriction endonucleases. Average total sizes of mtDNA of cattle, sheep and goat were found to be 16.49 +/- 0.18, 16.30 +/- 0.25 and 16.44 +/- 0.08 kb, respectively. The mtDNA cleavage patterns were identical for all seven individuals belonging to two cattle breeds and for 10 individuals from one sheep breed.