Genetic Diversity of Goats from Korea and China Using Microsatellite Analysis

Abstract

Nine microsatellite loci were analyzed in 84 random individuals to characterize the genetic variability of three domestic goat breeds found in Korea and China: Korean goat, Chinese goat and Saanen. Allele diversity, heterozygosity, polymorphism information content, F-statistics, indirect estimates of gene flow (Nm) and Nei's standard distances were calculated. Based on the expected mean heterozygosity, the lowest genetic diversity was exhibited in Korean goat (H E =0.381), and the highest in Chinese goat (H E =0.669). After corrections for multiple significance tests, deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were statistically significant over all populations and loci, reflecting the deficiencies of heterozygotes (global F I S =0.053). Based on pairwise F S T and Nm between different breeds, there was a great genetic differentiation between Korean goat and the other two breeds, indicating that these breeds have been genetically subdivided. Similarly, individual clustering based on the proportion of shared alleles showed that Korean goat individuals formed a single cluster separated from the other two goat breeds.