Do non-bovine domestic animals produce A2 milk?: an in silico analysis

Abstract

A2 milk is an easily digestible product since it has only A2 beta-casein. In cattle, the A1 and A2 alleles are found in the population and the A2 milk is produced from A2A2 animals. Little is known about these alleles in other domestic dairy species. The present study aims to analyze sequence of genetic material available on public databases and quantify the animals genotyped. Eight domestic species were analyzed. There is strong evidence that domestic non-bovine species only carry A2 beta-casein. The data reported here for goats already confirm it due to the large number of animals genotyped as well as buffaloes. It means that they naturally produce A2 milk and no selection must be done. Thus, the fact that A2 milk is easier to digest can be used to add value to dairy product of these species. It helps to conquer new markets. It also improves people’s health and breeder profitability.

Keywords:

• SNP
• A1 allele
• goat
• dairy livestock

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We thank the "Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (Fapesb)" for the fellowship granted to the first author.