Promoter and expression analysis of nobox, ovol1 and zp3 genes in ovarian follicles of Shall ewes

Transcription factors have important role in controls of animal fertility by binding to promoter regions of genes and regulation of their expression. In this study, nobox, ovol1 and zp3 genes expression, that are candidate genes involved in regulatory pathways of genes, in two categories of uniparous and multiparous Shall sheep were investigated. According to the pedigree of animals, a totally of six ewes selected from the herd of Qazvin Shall breeding center and applied for this experiment. After estrus synchronization, ewes were operated by general anesthesia technique and ovarian mature follicles were extracted by aspiration. After RNA extraction, sample’s cDNA was constructed. To investigation the expression of the above genes, a set of specific primers was designed for a gene, and then relative expression of these genes were measured using Real-Time PCR method and by employment of ∆∆Ct approach. Comparisons between the averages of data were done by T-Test Statistical procedure. In addition, promoter region and transcription factors of the genes investigated using BDGP software. The expression of nobox and ovol1 genes were significant in multiparous animals category (P