Abstract
The main role of Ghrelin hormone is the regulation of feed intake, body weight and gastrointestinal motility. It stimulates appetite by acting on the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. Ghrelin is orexigenic that transmits a hunger signal from the periphery to the central nervous system and is involved in mealtime hunger and meal initiation. The aim of the present study was to characterize the GHRL gene in two Saudi sheep breeds locally named as Najdi and Naeimi. A fragment of 112 bpcomprisingparts of exon 1 and intron 1 of the Ghrelin gene was amplified and sequenced. Our mutations were detected at positions (74,92, 99 and 108) of the intron1. In addition, the four mutations were used to construct different haplotypes, three haplotypes were recovered: H1 (TAAA), H2 (CGGG), and H3 (TGAA).
The H1 (TAAA) was the most common haplotype found in Najdi and Naeimi individuals with frequency of 0.73 for both sheep breeds. The H2 haplotype (CGGG) was unique for Najdi sheep with frequency of 0.21. H3 haplotype (TGAA) was represented in Najdi and Naeimi sheep with frequencies of 0.06 and 0.27 respectively. The present study provides basic information to understand the genetic Characterization of local sheep breeds in Saudi Arabia.