Abstract
Conservation and breeding programmes of livestock species depend on determination of genetic diversity. Today in livestock species, microsatellite markers are commonly used to reveal population structure and genetic diversity in both breeds and varieties. In this study, population structure, genetic diversity, and differentiation among four native Turkish sheep breeds including Güney Karaman, Kangal, Norduz, and Karakas were assessed by using 21 microsatellite loci. By genotyping 120 individuals belonging to four sheep breeds, a total of 275 different alleles, 37 of which were private alleles, were observed across all loci. The mean number of alleles per breed ranged from 7.28 (Güney Karaman) to 8.09 (Karakas), while allelic richness ranged from 7.22 (Güney Karaman) to 7.87 (Karakas). Mean observed heterozygosity varied from 0.60 (Kangal) to 0.66 (Norduz and Karakas). The lowest pairwise value (0.084) was between Kangal and Karakas populations, while the highest pairwise value (0.142) was between Norduz and Karakas populations. Polymorphic information content (PIC) values, ranging from 0.71 (ETH10) to 0.91 (OarFCB304), were highly polymorphic (PIC 0.5) and informative in studied populations. In the present study, the results of phylogenetic analysis were of importance, since all studied populations have been accepted as Akkaraman varieties till today. However, factorial correspondence and structure analysis, pairwise values, and an unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean analysis (UPGMA) dendrogram revealed that Güney Karaman and Norduz populations have became genetically different from the Akkaraman breed due being raised in different parts of Turkey under different climatic conditions together with their breeding practices. Therefore, we recommend that more comprehensive molecular studies should be conducted to clarify genetic differentiation of Akkaraman sheep varieties.
Highlights
Sheep’s milk and meat are important foodstuffs for the feeding of society
Basic genetic diversity parameters and Polymorphic information content (PIC) values calculated for 21 microsatellite loci (Table 1)
Yilmaz et al (2015) reported mean number of alleles and effective alleles as 12.29 and 7.04, respectively in Gökçeada, Kıvırcık, Karacabey Merino, and Sakız sheep breeds by using 17 microsatellite loci, while Oner et al (2014) reported mean number of alleles and effective alleles as 11.89 and 5.65, respectively in Kıvırcık, Pırlak, and Karacabey Merino sheep breeds by using 10 microsatellite loci. These results show that four native Turkish sheep populations hold high genetic diversity
Summary
Sheep’s milk and meat are important foodstuffs for the feeding of society. Sheep raising supports breeders’ incomes and the economy of Turkey with nearly 34 million sheep (TUIK, 2019). A large part of the sheep population raised in Turkey is represented by native breeds. Native sheep breeds have low milk and meat yields, they are resistant to temperature changes and diseases of raised regions (Soysal et al, 2005). Sheep raising has always been a part of cultural values of Turkey through its history. Sheep rearing makes a contribution to breeders’ incomes and is a lifestyle known as nomadic sheep breeding. Turkey makes a contribution to world animal genetic resources with nearly 20 defined native sheep breeds (Ertugrul et al, 2009)
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