Analysis of Genetic Diversity of Kazakh White-Headed Cattle Breed by Microsatellites Compare with Ancestral Breeds &amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;†&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;

Alexandra Abdelmanova,Roman Chinarov,Arsen Dotsev,Gottfried Brem,Natalia Zinovieva,Veronika Kharzinova,Valeria Volkova,Alexander Sermyagin,Oxana Boronetskaya

doi:10.3390/bdee2021-09487

Abstract

Kazakh White-headed is the local beef cattle breed, which is bred in Central Asia countries. It was created in the beginning of 20 century by improving native Kazakh cattle by Hereford breed. The aim of our work was to characterize the genetic structure and to trace the presence of ancestral genetic components in the modern population of Kazakh White-headed cattle. The samples of modern representatives of Kazakh White-headed (KZWH_M, n=29) and Hereford (HRFD_M, n=25) breeds as well as historical specimens of native Kazakh breed (KZKH_H, n=2), dated by the first quarter of 20th century, were subjected to the study. All works with historical specimen were performed in dedicated facility of the L.K. Ernst research Centre for Animal Husbandry. DNA from modern samples was extracted using DNA Extran 2 kit (JSC Syntol, Russia) and from historical specimen – using COrDIS Extract Decalcine kit (GORDIZ LLC, Russia). We genotyped 11 microsatellite loci (BM1818, BM2113, BM1824, ETH10, ETH225, INRA023, SPS115, TGLA53, TGLA122, TGLA126, and TGLA227). For historical samples the PCR reaction were carried out in five replicates to determine the consensus genotypes for each locus. In total, we identified 82 microsatellite alleles. Five alleles, which were found in the historical specimens, were lost in the modern population of Kazakh White-headed cattle. We observed the highest level of genetic diversity (unbiased heterozygosity, allelic richness) in historical samples. The modern population of Kazakh White-headed cattle was closer to Hereford breed as was revealed by calculation of pairwise Nei and FST genetic distances. The STRUCTURE clustering confirmed the more similarity of genetic structure of modern Kazakh White-headed cattle with Herefords, but showed the visible presence the historical genetic components. The research results will be useful for developing the programs of conservation and sustainable use of Kazakh White-headed cattle.

Highlights

Since ancient times, the Kazakh people led a nomadic life, driving cattle across the vast territory of Central Asia
All loci were polymorphic except for ETH225 in the historical population, which could be explained by the small sample size
The highest variability was observed for TGLA122 and TGLA227 (12 and 10 alleles, respectively), while ETH10 and BM1824 were the least polymorphic (4 alleles)

Summary

Introduction

The Kazakh people led a nomadic life, driving cattle across the vast territory of Central Asia. At the beginning of the 20th century, their usual way of life was altered: the number of cities and number of citizens was increased; many grazing areas were plowed up for growing crops. The new conditions required a creating the breed that could withstand the harsh climate of Kazakhstan, and to have an excelent growing capasity in the poor forage conditions of south steppe. Since 1930-th years native local Kazakh cows had been crossed with Herefords to developing a new beef breed that was named Kazakh White-headed breed [1]

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