Gen KIT variants and its relation to grey, white, and blue eyes (BEW phetnotype) in alpacas

Melo-Rojas C.; Bravo-Matheus P.W.; Arias-Flores J.C.; Zapata-Coacalla C. · ITEA Informacion Tecnica Economica Agraria (2024) · DOI: 10.12706/itea.2024.002

Resumen

The alpaca (Vicugna pacos) presents a variety of seven basic colors and up to 21 colors for the textile industry. The most abundant color coat is white because of a dominant gene and gray is of interest to the fashion industry. On the other hand, blue-eyed in some alpacas are undesirable traits because it is considered a genetic defect; however, they are frequently present in alpacas and llamas. The KIT gene has been associated with gray and white color in different animal species. In this study, the 21 exons, including fragments of intronic regions of the KIT gene were analyzed in 303 alpacas, 12 vicuñas and 3 guanacos. Six non-synonymous SNPs were identified, of these a change of glycine to arginine at amino acid position 126 (c.376G>A) was strongly associated with gray color and BEW phenotype (P < 0.00001).95.2 % of the gray and all blue-eyed alpacas were heterozygous, the rest of the animals analyzed were homozygous for the wild-type allele. Similarly, the change of valine to leucine at amino acid position 323 (c.967C>G) showed an association with white color (P < 0.0001) in mostly heterozygous alpacas. This work confirms that the KIT gene is associated with gray and white alpacas, as well as blue eyes.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco