Analysis of population-genetic processes in different cattle breeds by microsatellite loci of DNA

Abstract

Aim. The aim of our research was to analyze the population-genetic processes in different dairy breeds using highly polymorphic molecular and genetic markers (DNA microsatellites). Methods. We used 10 loci recommended by the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) to analyze 88 DNA samples of the two most abundant dairy breeds of cattle in Ukraine – Ukrainian red-motley dairy and Ukrainian black-and-white dairy breeds. Using formulae that related the expected linkage disequilibrium (LD) to the effective population size (Ne), Ne was estimated. Results. The work presents the results of the study on genetic processes in the populations of Ukrainian red-and-motley breed using 10 microsatellite loci of DNA. It was shown that, being highly polymorphic multilocus genetic systems, microsatellites of DNA are highly informative markers of populationgenetic processes, occurring in the populations of cattle. Conclusions. The studied populations of Ukrainian dairy cattle breeds are impacted by population-genetic and genetic-automatic processes. In particular, the effect of the latter on Ukrainian red-and-motley dairy breed was noted. These animals had notable signifi cant loss of rare alleles and the manifestation effect of “bottle neck”. The values obtained testify to a low level of inbredness in these populations. The effective population size in the studied Ukrainian dairy cattle breeds was estimated in the approximate range of 397–555 heads which testifi ed to a favorable condition of the population of Ukrainian red-and-motley dairy cattle and a critical condition of the Ukrainian black-and-white dairy breed.