Authors : Victor M. Riojas-Valdes, Barbara Carballo-Garcia, Luis E. Rodriguez-Tovar, Martha V. Garza-Zermeno, Rafael Ramirez-Romero, Juan Zarate-Ramos, Ramiro Avalos-Ramirez and Guillermo Davalos-Aranda
Abstract: Bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency is an autosomal recessive genetic disease that produces in many cases the early death of Holstein calves, causing economic losses to milk producers and breeders. It is due to a point mutation in position 383 of cDNA of the CD18 gene, leading to a substitution of guanine for adenine and a change of glycine for aspartic acid (position 128). As a consequence, the normal CD11B/CD18 integrine is not functional. The affected animals show recurrent bacterial infections, delayed wound healing, stunted growth and early death. Many countries have followed a policy of detecting carrier bulls with a DNA test in order to eliminate them from Artificial Insemination (AI) programs with great success. In Mexico, no carrier detection program has been implanted, although, most of bulls used for AI comes from the USA, country that have done screening programs for the last 10 years. In order to determine the gene frequency of the BLAD mutation in Northeast Mexico, 61 Holstein animals were analyzed by PCR-RFLP. No evidence of the mutation was found, indicating that the use of USA, BLAD-free bulls in AI programs has probably eliminated the disease in Holstein population in Mexico.
Victor M. Riojas-Valdes, Barbara Carballo-Garcia, Luis E. Rodriguez-Tovar, Martha V. Garza-Zermeno, Rafael Ramirez-Romero, Juan Zarate-Ramos, Ramiro Avalos-Ramirez and Guillermo Davalos-Aranda, 2009. Absence of Bovine Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency (BLAD) in Holstein Cattle from Mexico. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 8: 1870-1872.