• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 2011

To investigate the influences of candidate genes on the birth weight and the early stages of life, genotyping of the prolactin receptor 3 (PRLR3) and retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) genes was performed in 156 and 141 Berkshire pigs, respectively. The frequency of both PRLR3 alleles A and a was 0.50. The frequencies of the RBP4 alleles B and b were 0.42 and 0.58, respectively. Neither locus was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. No significant associations of the PRLR3 alleles with birth or weaning weights and of the RBP4 alleles with birth weight were observed. The proportions of the phenotype variances due to the genotypes of PRLR3 in the feeder weights was 4.0% and those of RBP4 in the weaning and feeder weights were 11.9 and 3.3%, respectively (P < 0.05). The dominance effect of PRLR3 and RBP4 on feeder weights was 2.40 and -1.86 kg, respectively (P < 0.01). The additive and dominance effects of RBP4 on weaning weights were 0.332 and -0.682 kg, respectively (P < 0.01). Even if no significant epistasis of PRLR3 and RBP4 was detected, a considerable trend of consistent positive epistasis estimates of AA/BB and Aa/Bb was observed for all traits. The results of this study may have a considerable impact on early-stage growth by both loci, and a selection strategy should be designed separately for each marker in Berkshire pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.571-579
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• 2016

In this work, we prepared a panel of monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibodies to ovine prolactin (oPRL) by the hybridoma technique. Among these antibodies, one anti-idotypic antibody (designated B7) was chosen for further characterization by a series of experiments. We first demonstrated that B7 behaved as a typical $Ab2{\beta}$ based on a series of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Subsequently, the results of a competitive receptor-binding assay confirmed that B7 could specifically bind to the prolactin receptor (PRLR) expressed on target cells. Finally, we examined its biological activities in CHO-PRLR and Nb2 cells and observed that B7 could activate Janus kinase 2-signal transducer and activator of transcription signalling in CHO-PRLR and Nb2 cells and induce BaF3 proliferation. The present study suggests that i) B7 can serve as a PRLR agonist or PRL mimic and has potential applications in regulating mammary gland development, milk production and maintenance of lactation in domestic animals and ii) B7 may be a biological reagent that can be used to explore the mechanism of PRLR-mediated intracellular signalling.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.183-188
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• 2012

To investigate the influence of the prolactin receptor 3 (PRLR3) gene and the retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) gene on the production traits of swine, genotyping was performed on 156 and 141 Berkshire pigs, respectively, that were carefully selected for economic traits. The frequencies of allele A in the PRLR3 locus and allele B in the RBP4 locus were 0.50 and 0.42, respectively. Neither locus was in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. After a genotype was assigned to the individuals whose parents had the homozygous genotype, a statistical analysis was conducted for 291 pigs. The animals with the PRLR3 and RBP4 genotypes included 182 and 227 head, respectively. Even though the genotypic effects of PRLR3 (p<0.05) and RBP4 (p<0.01) had a significant influence on the pigs' back fat thickness, the interaction of both genes was not highly significant in terms of the back fat thickness (p = 0.1235). While the estimated epistasis effects of aaBB and aaBb decreased the back fat thickness and reduced the growth rate, the effects of AAbb and aabb increased the growth rate. Despite the insignificant difference in the PRLR genotypes in terms of the days to 90 kg and the average daily gain, the back fat thickness showed a significant difference (p<0.05), and the additive effect of allele A and the dominant effect of the hetero-genotype were -0.377 and 1.206 mm, respectively. The RBP4 genotypes had a very significant effect (p<0.01) on the back fat thickness, the days to 90 kg, and the average daily gain. The additive effects of allele B of the RBP4 locus on the back fat thickness, the days to 90 kg, and the average daily gain were 0.70 mm, -1.3 days and 6.2 g, respectively. Moreover, the dominant effects of the heterozygote for those traits were 0.63 mm, 9.9 days and -45.0 g, respectively. Allele A of the PRLR3 locus favorably influenced the back fat thickness, the days to 90 kg of the body weight, and the average daily gain and its dominant effect unfavorably influenced those traits. Allele B of RBP4 showed an incremental growth rate and back fat thickness, which could lower the lean meat percentage in the carcass. The RBP4 hetero-genotype negatively affected the pork production. These results strongly imply that the selection of allele A of PRLR3 and allele B of RBP4 would produce highly productive pigs in the Berkshire breed. Careful selection of allele B of RBP4 is required because of the increase in the back fat thickness.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.484-488
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• 2008

We investigated the effect of the prolactin receptor gene (PRLR) on total number of born (TNB), number of born alive (NBA) and number of weaned (NW) piglets in Large White (LW), White Meaty (WM) and Landrace (L) sows from six Slovak breeding farms. The frequency of A allele was 0.48, 0.49 and 0.47 in LW, WM and L, respectively. We found numerous highly significant effects of PRLR locus on TNB ($p{\leq}0.01$; $p{\leq}0.05$) in all tested breeds. The most marked difference of +$1.31{\pm}0.45pigs/L$ was found between AA and BB genotypes in WM. Within the other breeds the difference between the homozygous genotypes reached up to +$0.94{\pm}0.3$ and +$1.21{\pm}0.19$ pigs per litter in LW and L, respectively. We also identified significant differences between AA and AB genotypes related to TNB in L. Similarly NBA, as well as NW traits were significantly affected ($p{\leq}0.01$; $p{\leq}0.05$) by the genotype just in LW and L. The homozygous genotype AA was favourable in all breeds and traits. Our results showed the possibility of PRLR utilization in marker-assisted selection within breeding programs to increase reproductive traits of pigs in Slovakia.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.825-830
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• 2010

Two diallelic markers at candidate gene loci, the prolactin receptor 3 (PRLR3) gene and the retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) gene were evaluated for their association with growth and litter size traits in Berkshire. Genetic evaluation was conducted for 5,919 pigs with pedigree information, which included 3,480 growth performance records and 775 litter size records of 224 sows. From the same herd, genotyping was carried out on 144 and 156 animals for PRLR3 and RBP4, respectively. After assigning a genotype to subjects in which both parents had a homozygous genotype, numbers of genotyped animals increased to 474 and 338, for the PRLR3 gene and RBP4 gene, respectively. The genotype effects of two markers were estimated with breeding values of the genotyped animals. The additive effects of total number of piglets born and number of piglets born alive in the PRLR3 locus were -0.28 and -0.13, respectively. The dominance effect of the RBP4 locus on average daily gain was -10.58 g. However, the polymorphism of the RBP4 locus in total number of piglets born and number of piglets born alive has shown -0.34 and -0.33 of the additive genetic effects. In view of the results, MAS (marker-assisted selection) favoring B alleles of RBP4 and PRLR3 loci could potentially accelerate the rate of the genetic improvement in the litter size traits.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.577-581
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• 2012

The polymorphisms of several genes including Leptin (LEP), beta-lactoglobulin (LGB) and Prolactin receptor (PRLR) have been shown to affect milk composition traits in dairy cattle. But, the effects of these polymorphisms on the milk traits of Philippine water buffalo are still unclear. In the Philippines, buffalo are the major milk producers most of which are the Philippine carabao (PC), the American Murrah Buffalo (AMB) and Bulgarian Murrah Buffalo (BMB). The LEP, LGB and PRLR genes are considered to be associated with milk production traits. The objective of the present study was to identify the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the LEP, LGB and PRLR genes of PC, AMB and BMB and to investigate the effect of the SNPs on milk production traits in these buffalo. Genetic polymorphisms were screened by DNA sequencing and 12 SNPs were detected in BMB; 5 SNPs were in LEP exon3 region (G14227A, G14343A, T14502C, C14526T, G14603A); 5 SNPs were in LGB exon 2 region (G1861C, A1900G, G1901T, T1948C, G1949A); 2 SNPs were in PRLR exon 6 (T59047C, T59109C). Also, 12 polymorphism sites between cattle and buffalo were identified. Our analysis of the association between SNPs and milk production traits should be useful in future studies of buffalo breeding to improve lactation performance.