Molecular analysis of genetic variability in Egyptian buffalo using microsatellite DNA markers

• Published in: Journal of animal science Vol. 94; p. 80
• Main Authors: Bakr, S Abou, Attia, M, Nigm, A A, Abdelghany, S, Abdallah, N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Champaign Oxford University Press 01-09-2016
• Subjects: Alleles; Buffalo; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Genetic analysis; Genetic diversity; Genetic markers; Genetic variability; Heterozygosity; Loci; Marker-assisted selection; Markers; Microsatellites; Molecular chains; Polymorphism; Variability
• EISSN: 1525-3163
• ISSN: 0021-8812

A total of nine microsatellite DNA markers-BM1329, BMS483, BM143, AFR227, BMS2460, CSSM38, CSSM70, ETH02 and BM1706-were tested to assess and analyze the molecular genetic variability among and within six governorate-located groups of Egyptian buffalo. A total of 312 sampled animals were collected from six governorates: Behera, Menoufia, Kaliobia, Giza, Sharkia and Alexandria. All studied microsatellites showed allelic polymorphism. Across all loci, 139 alleles were observed. The average number of observed alleles per polymorphic locus was 15.444 ± 3.206, ranging from 10 (BMS2460) to 20 (BM1706). The effective number of alleles per locus showed lower values varying between 8.988 and 17.176 for BMS2460 and BM1706, respectively, with a mean of 13.233 ± 2.630. The total observed number of alleles per governorate group varied between 110 (Alexandria) and 116 (Kaliobia and Giza) with an overall mean of 113.3 alleles per governorate group. The mean observed number of alleles per locus per group varied between 12.22 (Alexandria) and 12.89 (Kaliobia and Giza), while the mean effective number of alleles per locus per group varied between 10.22 ± 2.08 (Alexandria) and 10.95 ± 2.49 (Kaliobia). The observed heterozygosity (Ho) ranged from 0.792 (CSSM38) to 0.930 (BM143), while the expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.890 (BMS2460) to 0.943 (BM1706). The overall means of Ho and He values were 0.890 ± 0.048 and 0.923 ± 0.017, respectively. Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.878 (BMS2460) to 0.939 (BM1706) with a mean of 0.915. At the nine microsatellite loci, the mean of fixation index was 0.024 ± 0.017. These results indicate the presence of a wide genetic variation within the Egyptian buffalo at the molecular level, giving an opportunity to exploit marker-assisted selection (MAS) in improving economic traits of Egyptian buffalo.