Serum transferrins in Merino sheep

Abstract

Serum samples from 1963 Merino sheep were examined for serum transferrin type. Two of the five transferrin alleles previously described in British breeds of sheep, viz. T fA and T fc, were found, but T fB, T fD and T fE were absent. Evidence for seven further transferrin alleles was obtained. These alleles were coded T fF, T fG, T fH, T fJ, T fN, T fK and T fL in decreasing order of mobility of the zones they produce in starch gel.Gene frequency data is presented for the populations studied.

Population Data for the Transferrin Variants in the Australian Merino

“…Transferrin typing was carried out after starch gel electrophoresis of sheep sera in the buffer system described by Ashton and Ferguson (1963) using watercooled vertical electrophoresis trays. Figure 1 shows the results of starch gel electrophoresis of eight serum samples in the same discontinuous Tris citrate-lithium borate buffer system employed by Ashton and Ferguson (1963).…”

“…Figure 1 shows the results of starch gel electrophoresis of eight serum samples in the same discontinuous Tris citrate-lithium borate buffer system employed by Ashton and Ferguson (1963). The figure illustrates the five variants found in the Merino.…”

“…Ashton (1958aAshton ( , 1958b first demonstrated this to be true of sheep. Since then a number of papers have established that the Australian Merino (Ashton and Ferguson 1963), British (Khattab, Watson, and Axford 1964), Italian (Sartore 1964), Scandinavian (Efremov and Braend 1965), and several South African breeds (King and Fechter 1967) possess this polymorphism. Family data (Ashton 1958b;Khattab, Watson, and Axford 1964;Cooper 1966) agree with the hypothesis that the difference between the variants is controlled by multiple alleles at a single locus.…”

Serum Transferrins of Twin Sheep-Goat Hybrids

“…The purpose of this report is to describe the transferrin types of twin hybrid foetuses obtained by Caesarian section at 61 days. The material was obtained during the course of hybridization experiments of Alexander and Williams.Serum transferrin polymorphism has been described in both sheep (Ashton 1958a(Ashton , 1958bAshton and Ferguson 1963) and goats (Ashton and McDougall 1958;Millison and Pattison 1961). The limited family data availaple are in agreement with the hypothesis that in each species the difference between transferrin types are determined by a series of alleles at a single locus and which do not exhibit dominance.…”

“…Starch gel electrophoresis followed by 59Fe radioautography (Bailey and Cooper, unpublished data) indicate that in both the sheep and the goat each transferrin allele determines the production of a characteristic pair of proteins electrophoretically separable in starch gel. It It has been shown (Cooper 1966; Stormont and co-workers, personal communication, 1965) that the Merino transferrins called F, A, H, J, and K by Ashton and Ferguson (1963) are indistinguishable from five of the transferrins found commonly in British breeds and called A, B, 0, D, and E by Khattab, Watson, and Axford (1964) and Hall (personal communication). The results of Cooper and Stormont and co-workers are in contrast to those of Ashton and Ferguson, who found transferrins F, H, and J only in Merinos.…”