Application of DNA Fingerprinting to determine paternity in cattle with large congenital abdominal wall defect progeny

Abstract

The efficiency of DNA fingerprinting to solve a paternity dispute was evaluated in four Hereford bulls of a Cebú/Hereford cattle herd with two calves affected by a congenital abdominal wall malformation. The test was carried out using multi-locus probe (CAC)5. 8 DNA samples ?two from the affected calves, two from their corresponding mothers and 4 from bulls (supposed sires)? were processed. These samples were digested with restriction enzyme Hae III, blotted onto nylon membranes and hybridised with (CAC)5. The bands obtained were visually analysed and data was processed by the computer program "PATER" (with the "PATER" computer program). The probability of paternity (W) was W = 0.80 in one case and W = 0.93 in the other. Despite the known inbreeding of the bovine breed tested, it was possible to ascertain the paternity with multilocus DNA fingerprinting (CAC)5.