Abstract
Southern blot hybridization was applied to differentiate between Japanese black cattle and the other four cattle breeds (Holstein, Aberdeen-Angus, Hereford and Murray Grey). The probes, P32-labelled human DNA (DRB 1 and DQB 1) were hybridized with the bovine DNA fragments on nylon membranes. The restriction enzymes, which were optimized to differentiate between the breeds of cattle, by the preliminary experiment were Pvu II, Bgl II and Stu I. The bovine sample were digested with Pvu II and Stu I and hybridized to the HLA-DQB 1 probes. For the results, Japanese black cattle of Pvu II fragments hybridizing with the DQB 1 probe had the specific fragments of 7.6kb, 5.8kb, 5.0kb and 4.8kb. The other bovine breeds of Stu I fragments hybridizing with the DQB 1 probe had the specific fragments of 8.0kb and 6.0kb (Holstein), 5.0kb (Aberdeen-Angus), 13.0kb, 12.0kb, 5.2kb and 3.8kb (Hereford), 9.0kb and 1.8kb (Murray Grey) respectively. From the restriction fragment patterns of bovine DNA samples digested with Pvu II, Bgl II and Stu I followed by the hybridization with HLA-DRB 1 and DQB 1 were possible to discriminate between Japanese black cattle and the other four breeds.
