Novel single nucleotide polymorphism identification in interleukin-6 gene of Pakistani sheep

The present study aimed to identify single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in coding and non-coding regions of interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene of Pakistani sheep. The IL-6 gene of 205 animals from nine sheep breeds were sequenced for screening of SNP. Characterizing the IL-6 gene revealed thirteen SNP sites within the intronic region of IL-6 gene. The novel SNPs found in the present study can serve as genetic marker for association studies with susceptibility/resistance to parasite infection in sheep. This is first report of SNP polymorphism of IL-6 gene of Pakistani sheep.