Genetic relatedness among wild, domestic and Brazilian fighting roosters

Fp Rodrigues,Jmb Duarte,Sa Queiroz

doi:10.1590/s1516-635x2006000200003

Fp Rodrigues, Jmb Duarte + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s1516-635x2006000200003

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Abstract

Except for the meat- and egg-type strains used in commercial poultry farms in Brazil, there are no scientific reports about the origin of birds from the genus Gallus that have been introduced in this country with domestication or fighting purposes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the position of the Brazilian Game Bird in the phylogenetic tree of the genus Gallus by nucleotide sequence analysis of the mitochondrial DNA D-loop region. The results indicate that fighting roosters comprise two different clusters within the species Gallus gallus domesticus. One of the clusters is related to the wild ancestors, while the other one is more related to the birds raised by the poultry industry. In conclusion, Brazilian fighting roosters have originated from the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) and belong to the subspecies Gallus gallus domesticus.

Highlights

The genus Gallus is originated from Asia and comprises four species (Hutt, 1949): Gallus varius (Shaw.), Gallus sonneratii (Temminck), Gallus lafayettei (Lesson) and Gallus gallus (Linné)
The aim of this study was to identify the position of the Brazilian Game Bird in the phylogenetic tree of the genus Gallus by nucleotide sequence analysis of the mitochondrial DNA D-loop region
The results indicate that fighting roosters comprise two different clusters within the species Gallus gallus domesticus

Summary

Introduction

The genus Gallus is originated from Asia and comprises four species (Hutt, 1949): Gallus varius (Shaw.), Gallus sonneratii (Temminck), Gallus lafayettei (Lesson) and Gallus gallus (Linné). The birds were brought to Japan through two different routes, Central China and Southeastern Asia, and originated the Shamo breed (Komiyama et al, 2003). This is a traditional breed of fighting roosters that was involved in the formation of many Japanese breeds. Singing roosters are another cultural tradition in Japan, and the three Japanese breeds of singing roosters have originated from Shamo (Komiyama et al, 2004), which evidences that our ancestors have first tried to domesticate the birds for cultural purposes before raising them as food sources

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