ANALYSIS OF RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISM IN THE BOVINE GROWTH-HORMONE GENE-RELATED TO GROWTH-PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS QUALITY OFKOREAN NATIVE CATTLE

This research was conducted to find restriction fragment length polymo rphism (RFLP) markers related to growth performance and meat quality o f Korean Native Cattle. DNA was extracted from the blood of Korean Nat ive Cattle steers and Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA digested w ith restriction enzymes was performed using a bovine growth hormone (G H) cDNA probe. The restriction enzyme that detected RFLPs most frequen tly was TaqI. Digested fragments with TaqI revealed 6.15, 5.2, 4.5, 4. 3, 2.6, 2.4, 1.6, 0.5, 0.3 and 0.2 kb bands. The most frequent band wa s 1.6 kb, which was exhibited in II out of 15 animals. In GH-TaqI RFLP , the 4.3 kb band was correlated with average daily gain (p = 0.021) a nd carcass weight (p = 0.035). No markers related to meat quality were found. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.