Molecular genetic diversity and relationship of indigenous sheep breeds of Pakistan based on nuclear microsatellite loci

Abstract

Sheep genetic resources are high in Pakistan with a number of different breeds spread throughout the country. However, the molecular diversity of sheep breeds is poorly understood in Pakistan. Therefore, in the present study 16 microsatellite markers were used in microsatellite on Buchi and Hashtnagri indigenous breeds of Punjab and Balochistan provinces, respectively. Blood samples from 25 unrelated individuals were collected for genetic diversity and relationship investigation. The mean number of alleles on Buchi and Hashtnagri were 3.375±1.455 and 3.50±1.591, respectively. The mean observed heterozygosity for Buchi was 0.878±0.204 while for Hashtnagri it was 0.885±0.218. The mean Shannon Index showed 1.032±0.371 and 1.070±0.412 for Buchi and Hashtnagri respectively. Inbreeding estimates (FIS and FIT) showed negative values while mean gene flow showed 10.09 and mean population difference (FST) showed 2.4%. According to these results, Buchi and Hashtnagri indigenous breeds showed considerable amount of genetic diversity. There is a decent scope for conservation, effective improvement, and designing suitable breeding strategies for sheep breeds in near future.