Comparison Study of Melanocortin 4 Receptor in Cattle, Buffalo, Sheep and Goat Based on Genbank Data

Melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) is a candidate gene for growth traits in the ruminant. The objective of this study to identify variation of the MC4R gene in cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goat. Genomic DNA of MC4R gene was obtained from Genbank in NCBI of 8 cattle, 2 buffaloes, 4 sheep, and 4 goats. We compare the partial genomic sequences from Genbank in NCBI of cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goat MC4R genes using BioEdit and MUSCLE program to identify variation of MC4R in 4 species. To perform phylogenetic tree, all sequence were aligned firstly and the phylogenetic tree was performed using MEGA ver, 5.0 software. According to the results of data analysis, we found 110 variations of MC4R in 4 species. The variation includes 12 at 5'UTR, 72 located in exon and 26 found at 3'UTR. There were 19 SNPs in the exon region that change amino acids. The main result of phylogenetic tree indicated cattle have a close relationship to Buffalo. The results of this study are further evidence for the role of MC4R as a candidate gene in the ruminant.