Genetic variability in Jalauni sheep of India inferred from microsatellite data

摘要

ThispaperexaminesthegeneticvariabilityinJalauni-animportantsheepofnorthwesternaridandsemiaridregionofIndia,at25microsatellitelocicovering19chromosomes,inordertodeterminethegeneticdiversityavailableinthismuttonandwoolproducingindigenousbreedofthecountry.nbsp;Theallelediversity,genediversityandthestatisticsthatexpresspolymorphism,inbreedingandgeneticbottleneckwithinthebreedweredetermined.nbsp;Atotalof148alleleswereidentifiedwithanallelediversityof5.92.Theeffectiveallelenumber(3.71)waslowerthantheallelediversity.Themeanobservedheterozygosity(0.58)andgenediversity(0.68)estimateselucidatedsubstantialgeneticdiversitywithinJalaunibreed.Theusedsetofmicrosatellitelociwhichexhibitedhighgeneticpolymorphism(PIC=0.64)alsorepresentedausefulpanelofmarkersforpopulationgeneticstudiesinIndiansheepbreeds.ThetypicalL-likedistributionoftheallelefrequenciesobtainedintheModeshifttestimpliedthatreductionineffectivepopulationsizeorarecentgeneticbottleneck(40-80generations)wasveryunlikelyinthisindigenousbreedofsheep.nbsp;Thepresentstudysuggestedthatnbsp;breedingstrategiesdesignedforconservationandimprovementofJalaunibreedunderfieldconditionsmustinvolveeducationoffarmersforfrequentexchangeofbreedingramsbetweenthepopulations,inordertocurbadverseeffectsofinbreeding(FIS=0.12).Moreover,subsequentutilizationofgenerateddataforcalculationofbetweenbreedsdiversitywouldfurtherallowselectionofprioritybreedsatnationalleveltomaximizediversityconservedforthebenefitoffuturehumangenerations.