Genotypes in specific codons of the goat prion protein gene (PRNP) influence the genetic susceptibility of goats to scrapie, a fatal neurodegenerative infectious disease. The objective of the research study is to perform a comparative analysis of the allele pool of modern goat populations of different origins (local breeds, transboundary breeds, and indigenous goat populations) among the genotypes for the PRNP gene, since its certain allele combinations are associated with resistance to scrapie, to use in subsequent selective breeding practices. The investigation was focused on studying the biological samples from goats of the Alpine (n = 29), Boer (n = 9), Kalahari (n = 13), Nubian (n = 20), Orenburg (n = 39), Soviet Wool (n = 23), Toggenburg (n = 21), and Karachay (n = 36) breeds and the Tuva Downy type (n = 19). The target genotypes were detected with the Sanger sequencing method on the Nanofor-05 genetic analyzer (Syntol, Russia). The minimum allelic diversity at codons 101, 151, 154, 168, 194, 223, and 253 was revealed. Codon 240 was polymorphic for all the analyzed breeds. K allele (lysine) at codon 222 was detected only in the Alpine and Toggenburg goats. Thus, its frequencies of occurrence comprised 0.17 and 0.26, respectively. Allelic form S (serine) at codon 146 was detected in the Kalahari (NS (asparagine/serine) with frequency of 0.15) and Nubian goats (SS (serine/serine) with frequency of 0.2). Therefore, the most resistance PRNP gene allelic forms (K allele at codon 222 and D and S alleles at codon 146) in goats raised in Russia were rare, while they were most prevalent in goat breeds of foreign origin.
Petrov et al. (Sun,) studied this question.