Nucleotide polymorphisms of the bovine growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHSR1a) gene and their association with growth and carcass traits in Japanese Black cattle

Ghrelin growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHSR1a) is involved in many important functions, including growth hormone secretion and food intake (Howard et al. 1996). To the best of our knowledge, there have been no reports to date on nucleotide polymorphisms from the 5'-flanking region to the 3'-UTR nor on the transcriptional analysis of the 5'-UTR of the GHSR1a gene in cattle. In our previous study (Malau-Aduli et al. (2005)), the GHSR1a gene was reported as a potential candidate gene when we detected growth trait QTLs in Japanese Black cattle using microsatellite DNA markers and half-sib regression analysis. Here we describe (1) all possible nucleotide polymorphisms from the 5'-flanking region to the 3'-UTR of the GHSR1a gene, (2) the transcript sequences of the 5'-UTR of the gene, which allows one to determine whether the microsatellite locus has been transcribed, and (3) an association between nucleotide polymorphisms of the gene and growth and carcass traits in Japanese Black cattle (Komatsu et al. (2010)). Finally, we propose a hypothesis that the association is due to differences in RNA secondary structure of the GHSR 1b mRNA.