Molecular characterisation, genetic variability and detection of a functional polymorphism influencing the promoter activity of OXT gene in goat and sheep.

The purpose of the study described in this Research Communication was to report the full characterisation of the goat and sheep oxytocin-neurophysin I gene (OXT), their promoters and amino acid sequences. Using the genomic DNA as template, we sequenced and compared the whole OXT gene (3 exons), plus 958/960 nucleotides at the 5' flanking region and 478/477 nucleotides at the 3' flanking region, in 46 sheep and 24 goats belonging to different breeds/genetic types reared in Italy, Greece and Germany. The comparison of the obtained sequences showed a high degree of genetic variability at these loci.