Abstract
In this study, we used mitochondrial (mt) DNA to reveal patterns of genetic diversity among six breeds of sheep native to Kazakhstan, including the Chu and Kalchengel types of Kazakh mutton-semifine-wool breed of sheep, Akzhayik, Edilbay, Kazakh fat-rumped semi-course-wool and South Kazakh Merino breeds. Mitochondrial DNA D-loop was studied in 64 samples to determine the genetic diversity of the local sheep breeds. The analysis identified 54 haplotypes and 113 polymorphic loci of mtDNA D-loop. For the studied breeds, haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity were 0.993±0.005 and 0.039±0.001, respectively. The results indicated higher level of nucleotide diversity in the South Kazakh Merino (SKM) breed (0.047), while the lowest diversity was observed in the Edilbay breed (0.029). In addition, the average number of nucleotide differences (Kxy) and the average number of nucleotide substitutions (Dxy) were determined among the studied breeds. The minimal value of genetic distance was observed between Akzhayik mutton-wool and Kazakh fat-rumped semi-course-wool breeds (Kxy: 16.956 and Dxy: 0.039), while the maximum value was observed between the Edilbay and SKM breeds (Kxy: 24.600 and Dxy: 0.040). Phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of three haplogroups, namely, A, B and C in the collected sample, while the haplogroups D and E were not found. The results indicated that 28 of 64 tested animals belong to haplogroup A (43.75%), whereas 25 of investigated animals were attributed to haplogroup B (39.06%) and 11 animals to haplogroup C (17.19%).
Highlights
The most feasible area of sheep domestication is Iran, southern Central Asia, the southwestern Asia and other eastern regions; North Africa and the Sahara, where mouflons were still in the Stone Age, are not excluded
Sheep breeding in Kazakhstan is a traditional, historically developed animal husbandry sector, the development of which is favored by the presence of extensive natural pastures (Ombayev et al, 2013; Berus et al, 2013)
About 64 samples belonging to 6 sheep breeds were analyzed to determine the natural genetic diversity using a sequence of the control region of 539 base pairs of the D-loop Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
Summary
The most feasible area of sheep domestication is Iran, southern Central Asia, the southwestern Asia and other eastern regions; North Africa and the Sahara, where mouflons were still in the Stone Age, are not excluded. Excavations in the regions of Egypt, Mesopotamia, in the valleys of other subtropical rivers, on the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, have shown that animal husbandry; in particular sheep breeding has changed and climbed to the highest level. This was facilitated by the success of agriculture in the valleys of the rivers of slave states, where they harvested two or even three crops a year (Torekhanov et al, 2011; Abilov et al, 2012; Lushnikov et al, 2013; Rasali et al, 2006). From England in September of 1962 a group of semifine-wool sheep Lincoln and Romney-march in the amount of 131 heads (26 rams and 105 dams) was brought to the Alma-Ata region, 187 rams and 127
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