Uso del fingerprinting de ADN para asignar paternidad en un rebaño con casos de malformación congénita de la pared abdominal

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.