IDENTIFICATION OF POLYMORPHISMS IN THE FSH RECEPTOR GENE (FSHR) IN DONOR MARES SUBMITTED TO EMBRYO TRANSFER
Embryo transfer, Donor mares, FSHR, Polymorphism.
Embryo transfer (ET) is an important tool that aims to accelerate genetic improvement, providing greater precision and speed in the animal selection process. Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), a glycoprotein secreted by the anterior pituitary, can regulate ovarian function through the FSH receptor (FSHR), which regulates the functioning of FSH, in which it plays a central role in reproduction. The objective is to identify genetic polymorphisms in the promoter region of the FSHR gene and associating such polymorphisms with reproductive traits in embryo donor mares. Molecular biology techniques were established, such as DNA extraction, PCR and DNA sequencing, as well as bioinformatics analyzes to identify new polymorphisms and future statistical analyzes to associate the polymorphisms with the reproductive characteristics in mares. Thus, two polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. The first at position 126 corresponding to variant X4 of the FSHR in horses. The mutation is a transition substitution from Adenine to Guanine. The second polymorphism is located at position -195 and corresponds from Guanine to Adenine transition substitution. Based on the identification of the polymorphisms (SNPs) found in the FSHR gene, we will investigate the associations with phenotypic characteristics of embryo donor horses in terms of the quality and quantity of produced embryo, age and rate of pregnancies.