The Identification of Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Calpain 1 (CAPN1) Gene of Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

Objective: Calpains, in particular μ-calpain, are responsible for the post mortem proteolysis processes in muscle tissue and have main influences on meat quality. The CAPN1 gene that codes for large subunit of μ-calpain is revealed as a candidate gene related with meat quality and tenderization traits for livestock. For this reason, in this study it is aimed to investigate the genetic variation of CAPN1 gene in Japanese quails. Material and Methods: In this study, the genetic variation of CAPN1 gene was analyzed via DNA sequencing of 35 (13 males and 12 females) Japanese quails which were reared in Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Animal Research Unit. Results: Some genetic variants which are found in the 4th and 5th exons are as g.103969C>T in the 4th exon region and eight novel SNPs as g.104116A>T, g.104118T>G, g.104148G>C, g.104169G>C, g.104172A>G, g.104179C>G, g.104181G>A, g.104184T>C in the 5th exon of CAPN1 gene. The novel DNA polymorphisms of CAPN1 gene in Japanese quails are reported for the first time in this study and these sequences were deposited to NCBI GenBank Database, with the accession numbers MK496828-MK496837, respectively. g.103969C>T transversion which is localized in the 4th exon region and g.104148G>C, g.104169G>C transversions and g.104172A>G, g.104181G>A, g.104184T>C transitions which are localized in the 5th exon region have not caused an amino acid change. Instead, g.104116A>T, g.104118T>G tranversions caused the change from Threonine to Serine amino acid. Similarly, C→G transversion which was observed on the 104179th position caused the amino acid change from Proline to Alanine. Conclusion: These observed SNPs may have an effect on meat yield and tenderness in quails, so further researches are needed to demonstrate this hypothesis and these SNPs may be candidate SNPs for quails breeding.