Correlation analysis of SOCS4 gene polymorphism with growth traits in Weining cattle.

【Objective】The present experiment was conducted to study the correlation between SOCS4 gene polymorphism and growth trait in Weining cattle to lay the foundation for further research on genetic effect and function and regulatory mechanism of SOCS4 gene. 【Method 】A total of 106 Weining cattle individuals were selected randomly, then the genome DNA was extracted from collected blood samples of Weining cattle. By PCR-SSCP, the SNP site and its genotype were detected to analyse correlation between SOCS4 gene SNP site and interindividual growth trait. 【Result】The results showed that, there were two SNP sites in SOCS4 gene viz., T+435C(in intron 1) and G+13700C(in 3'UTR), each of them showed three kinds of genotypes and the advantage alleles of them were T and C, respectively. While correlation analysis demonstrated that only T + 435 C was correlated significantly with growth traits of Weining cattle( P 0. 05,the same below), which showed different relevant characteristics in bull and cow population, respectively. As for bull population, T+435C was correlated significantly with chest circumference, the mean value of individuals with genotype TT was found to be significantly higher than individuals with genotype CC. As for cow population, T+435C was correlated significantly with cannon circumference, chest depth, waist height and hucklebone width, etc., and all mean values of individuals with genotype CC were found to the highest. 【Conclusion 】The polymorphism of SOCS4 gene is not abundant in Weining cattle, and only T +435C in intron affected the growth performance significantly, which reveals that T +435C can be used as molecular marker of assisted selection to imporve the growth performance of Weining cattle.