Polymorphism of three milk protein genes in Mexican Jersey cattle

The objective was to estimate the allelic and genotypic frequencies, genetic diversity and polymorphic information content for the β-casein, κ-casein and β-lactoglobulin genes. Blood and frozen semen samples were collected from 453 Jersey individuals registered by the Mexican Jersey Cattle Association. Twenty eight breed specific SNP primers for whole genes were used. The B allele of κ-casein had higher frequency (0.69) than the A (0.26) and E (0.05). For β-lactoglobulin, the highest frequency was for B (0.72), followed by A and C alleles (0.26 and 0.02, respectively). The β-casein allele with the highest frequency was A² (0.71), followed by A¹ (0.19), A³ (0.05), B (0.04) and C (0.01). The average genetic diversity (He) was 0.53. The average locus effective allele number was 1.79. These results indicate a high allelic diversity for κ-casein, β-casein and β-lactoglobulin that could be included in breeding programs in the population studied, aimed to improve the milk quality traits of economic importance.