ABSTRACT
Bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) is a member of the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) super family that is expressed by oocytes and plays key roles in granulosa cell development and fertility in animal. This study investigated the molecular genetic variation of BMP15 gene of some selected mammalian species with a view to providing relevant genetic information for breeding and selection programmes in the studied species using computational methods. A total of thirty seven (37) BMP15 nucleotide sequences comprising goats (18), sheep (6), cattle (6), swine (4) and chicken (3) were retrieved from the GenBank. Sequence alignment, translation and comparison of the BMP15 gene of the various species were done with ClustalW. High degree of polymorphism of BMP15 gene was observed among the studied species. The significant value (P < 0.01) for relative proportions of non-synonymous substitutions per non-synonymous site (dN) and the number of synonymous substitutions per synonymous site (dS) symbolized that non-synonymous sites evolved faster than the synonymous sites and positive selection effect over shadowed purifying selection. Functional analysis of missense mutations using PROVEAN showed that twelve amino acid substitutions (L10S, W13A, E20L, V28S, P31R, P31G, P40Q, L42W, Q46N, A52V, R58C and G64T) in goats, nine in sheep (H21R, S32R, I33A, A39W, Q46W, E51A, G54S, R61D and E72A), six in cattle (Q30M, T41W, E50R, I62R, H65E, and E72S), seven in swine (I7L, T9I, V33I, L35H, C40P, R46P and Q61R) and five in chickens (A20H, L27H, W43L, A47P and G50Y) appeared beneficial. The phylogenetic trees from nucleotide and amino acid sequences revealed the close relatedness of members of the bovidae family (goat, sheep and cattle). The present information could guide future efforts involving selection of markers of fecundity to improve genetically livestock species in Nigeria.