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Stearoyl-Coenzyme A Desaturase Gene Polymorphism and Milk Fatty Acid Composition in Italian Holsteins

M. Mele^*,1, G. Conte^*, B. Castiglioni, S. Chessa, N. P. P. Macciotta, A. Serra^*, A. Buccioni^#, G. Pagnacco and P. Secchiari^*

^* Dipartimento di Agronomia e Gestione dell’Agroecosistema, University of Pisa, Italy
Istituto di Biologia e Biotecnologia Agraria, CNR, Milan, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Veterinarie per la Sicurezza Alimentare—University of Milan, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze Zootecniche, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
^# Dipartimento di Scienze Zootecniche, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

¹ Corresponding author: mmele{at}agr.unipi.it

Milk fatty acid composition is a parameter of great interest for evaluation of nutritional quality of milk. Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) is a key enzyme in mammary lipid metabolism because it is able to add a double bond in the cis ⁹-position in a large spectrum of medium- and long-chain fatty acids. A polymorphism with 2 alleles (A and V) in the fifth exon of the SCD gene has been reported. The effect of SCD genotype on individual milk fatty acid composition and on cis-9 unsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratios of 297 Holstein Italian Friesian cows was investigated in this paper. The SCD genotypes were determined by using a single strand conformation polymorphism method. Relative frequencies of SCD genotypes were 27, 60, and 13% for AA, AV, and VV, respectively. Milk of AA cows had a greater content of cis-9 C18:1 and total monounsaturated fatty acids and a higher C14:1/C14 ratio than did milk of VV cows. The relative contribution of SCD genotype to variation of monounsaturated fatty acids, cis-9 C18:1, and cis-9 C14:1 was 5, 4, and 7.7%, respectively. No significant differences were detected between SCD genotypes in the milk content of cis-9, trans-11 C18:2. Results of the present work provide some indication of an association between SCD locus and the fatty acid profile in the examined sample of Italian Holsteins, thus suggesting a possible role of this gene in the genetic variation of milk nutritional properties.

Key Words: stearoyl-CoA desaturase polymorphism • conjugated linoleic acid • monounsaturated fatty acid

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