Analysis of the Calpastatin (CAST  ) and Androgen Receptor (AR) Gene Polymorphisms as Biomarkers for Meat Quality Traits in Reindeer Rangifer tarandus

Marker-assisted selection for improving reindeer meat production is at the early stages of development, which requires analysis of variation within the candidate genes for meat production. The calpastatin and androgen receptor genes were chosen as such genes to study their variability in reindeer. In different domesticated animal species, polymorphisms and indels in the androgen receptor gene were associated with growth and weight characteristics. Based on the results from many studies, sequence variation in the calpastatin CAST gene region was associated with meat quality and meat production of livestock. Principal component analysis of CAST variability grouped wild and domestic deer from Yakutia, as well as wild and domestic deer from Amur oblast, which implies gene flow between local breeds of domesticated deer and wild populations. At the same time, in the case of three microsatellite loci found in the present study in the intron of the androgen receptor gene, principal component analysis separated wild and domestic deer.