Study on Red Coat Color Gene and Prediction of the Secondary Structure in Chinese Holstein

The nucleotide sequence of the melanocortin-1-receptor (MC1R) gene was studied with the help of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in which the protein structure in Chinese Holstein was predicted, and the molecular mechanism of the red coat color was investigated. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was performed to genotype the individuals. The bioinformatics and biotechnology softwares were used to predict the secondary structure of MC1R. The results showed that the EE genotype was the dominant genotype in Chinese Holstein Black and White herd, whereas, it was ee in Chinese Holstein Red and White herd. The secondary structure of the mutational MC1R protein was changed and the deletion mutation caused an earlier termination in translation, which led to the formation of the red coat color. The allele E was mainly associated with the black coat color, whereas, e was associated with red.