Microsatellite Variation in One Breed of Iranian Sheep with 12 Markers

Abstract

Polymorphic loci, genetic parameters (Polymorphic Information Content, heterozygosity, Shannon Index, the number of actual alleles, the number of effective alleles) and genetic variation within Balouchi sheep population located in Abbasabad station of Mashad, was assessed using 12 microsatellite markers. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) reactions were successfully done with all primers except for OarHH62 and OarAE64, one locus (CSSM059) was monomorph, whereas the other 9 loci containing CSSM018, CSSM006, BMS1004, BMS2361, BMS744, BMS799, BMS1316, BMS2213 and TGLA122 were polymorph with 6, 6, 4, 4, 5, 4, 2, 3 and 3 number of alleles, respectively. In this population, heterozygosity varied from 0.5 to 0.72; among 9 polymorphic loci, BMS1316 and BMS2361 had the most and the least diversity, respectively. The study of Shannon Index and Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) indicate the least and the most values for BMS1316 and BMS2213 loci, respectively. The most number of actual alleles were belong to CSSM018 and CSSM006 loci with 6 alleles and the least was belong to BMS1316 locus with 2 alleles. BMS2361 locus had the most and BMS1316 locus had the least number of effective alleles. All loci were at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p < 0.005). In this population, average heterozygosity was estimated as 0.54. In general, it can be concluded that Balouchi sheep population of Abbasabad station in Mashad (in Iran) has approximately high genetic diversity with respect to the studied microsatellites and microsatellite markers have approximately high polymorphism and therefore can be used for genetic studies.