Freemartinism: Three cases in goats

Abstract

The aim of the study was a molecular and cytogenetic analysis of three cases of caprine freemartinism. The objects of the study were three White Improved goats culled due to infertility. The SRY gene was treated as a marker of presence (or absence) of the Y chromosome in the population of the blood nuclear cells carrying XY heterochromosomes, which occurs in a female organism originating from a heterosexual twin birth. In order to confirm cellular chimaerism that had been diagnosed basing on the presence of SRY gene, additional chromosomal analyses were carried out. Our studies have revealed that all three animals had the SRY gene linked with the Y chromosome. Bearing in mind that goats are genetically predestined to twin births, as well as due to a small incidence of clinically or molecularly diagnosed cases of freemartinism, it seems important to carry on studies in this scope, which can create a basis for wider characterisation of this syndrome in the domestic goat.