Detection of bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency (BLAD) in Turkish native and Holstein cattle

The purpose of this work was to study whether the bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency (BLAD) allele is present in native cattle breeds and the Holstein breed in Turkey. Blood samples were obtained from 120 Holstein, 20 Brown Swiss, 20 Anatolian Black, 20 Turkish Grey, 20 South Anatolian Red and 20 East Anatolian Red cattle. The isolated DNA materials were multiplied in PCR using the primer developed by Kriegesmann et al. (1997). In order to determine the area of mutation in PCR products, the PCR products were digested with TaqI endonuclease enzyme. The resulting fragments were analysed on 2% agarose gel for the absence of a TaqI restriction site. It was found that two of the Holstein cattle (a bull and a cow) were heterozygote BLAD carriers. There was no homozygote BLAD animal. The BLAD allele was not found in the other breeds used in the study. The mutant BLAD allele frequency in the 120 Holstein cattle calculations was 0.0084.

Bovine Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency (BLAD): A Review

Bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency (BLAD) in Holstein cattle is an autosomal recessive congenital disease characterized by recurrent bacterial infections, delayed wound healing and stunted growth, and is also associated with persistent marked neutrophilia. The molecular basis of BLAD is a single point mutation (adenine to guanine) at position 383 of the CD18 gene, which caused an aspartic acid to glycine substitution at amino acid 128 (D128G) in the adhesion molecule CD18. Neutrophils from BLAD cattle have impaired expression of the beta2 integrin (CD11a,b,c/CD18) of the leukocyte adhesion molecule. Abnormalities in a wide spectrum of adherence dependent functions of leukocytes have been fully characterized. Cattle affected with BLAD have severe ulcers on oral mucous membranes, severe periodontitis, loss of teeth, chronic pneumonia and recurrent or chronic diarrhea. Affected cattle die at an early age due to the infectious complications. Holstein bulls, including carrier sires that had a mutant BLAD gene in heterozygote were controlled from dairy cattle for a decade. The control of BLAD in Holstein cattle by publishing the genotypes and avoiding the mating between BLAD carriers was found to be successful. This paper provides an overview of the genetic disease BLAD with reference to the disease in Holstein cattle.

Comparison of milk production of the progeny of BLAD-carrier and healthy Holstein bulls in Hungary

'Bovine Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency' (BLAD) is a recessive monofactorial, lethal inheritable defect occurring in Holstein-Friesian cattle and often passed on by well-known top bulls. The aim of this study was to find a relationship between the BLAD genotype of bulls, their genetic evaluation for milk and their daughters' milk production. BLAD-carrier and healthy bulls were compared on the basis of their breeding value published in November 1997. The first 100 bulls ranked according to the Total Production Index (TPI) were used, including nine BLAD carriers with 2,835 daughters and 77 healthy sires with 21,950 female progenies. For 14 bulls the BLAD genotype was not indicated. The healthy animals significantly outperformed the BLAD carriers, which result contradicts our earlier findings (Dohy et al., 1996; Jánosa and Dohy, 1997). In a BLAD elimination programme, the identification of BLAD carriers and properly planned mating are of great importance in order to avoid 'inter se' mating of BLAD-carrier top animals which can be of significant influence in Holstein breeding.