Genetic Diversity in Original Arabian-WAHO, Local and Thoroughbred Horses in Iraq from ACTN3-EXON19 Gene Polymorphism

Abstract

The research was conducted in the Iraqi Equestrian Club (15 km west of Baghdad city center) for the period from 10/1/2021 to 11/30/2022, with the aim of detecting genetic features in the ACTN3 gene for each of the nineteenth exon (EXON19) in three types of horses, which are the original Arabian-WAHO, Local, and British Thoroughbred, with 38, 38, and 39 head each, respectively, for the purpose of studying genetic diversity indicators by estimating Mean allelic abundance -na) and some fixation indexes. The average total allelic abundance (na) for all mutation sites in the ACTN3/EXON19 gene for the three types of horses was 2.00, while the total number of effective alleles (ne) was 1.437, 1.594 and 1.592 for original Arabian-WAHO, Local, and British Thoroughbred respectively. The individual (Fis) for all mutation sites in the ACTN3 gene within the horse herd and for each type of them - 0.113, -0.107, and -0.138 for original Arabian-WAHO, Local, and the British Thoroughbred horses respectively, with a total rate of -0.1197, and that most of the estimates of genetic similarity between mutation sites in the ACTN3 gene are medium to high. We can conclude by studying the genetic diversity according to the genetic manifestations in the ACTN3 gene for each of the nineteenth exon EXON19, the possibility of adopting it in developing strategies for genetic improvement in horses and that the herd is characterized by the lack of internal breeding, and by studying the genetic differentiation stability index (Fst) and gene flow (Nm), there is genetic diversity in the studied gene regions, and the ACTN3 gene can be considered as a marker or genetic marker.