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Genetic structure and phylogeny of three goat populations in the Middle East
ABSTRACT: This study aimed to analyze genetic structure and differentiation of Ardi, Black Bedouin and Damascus goats from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria respectively. Therefore, four Microsatellite markers were genotyped onto a total of 98 individuals. The heterozygosity, intra-population differentiation and admixture coefficients were analyzed. All populations exhibit high average allele number and expected heterozygosity. The F-statistics coefficients indicating 6.0% of total genetic variation corresponded to differences between populations, whereas 94.0% was explained by difference between individuals. Damascus goat was more differentiated from Black Bedouin goat. Strong evidence of admixture between Ardi and Black Bedouin goat was found. The Genetic distances between Ardi and Black Bedouin goat was the shortest. Phylogeny relationship also revealed the expected degree of differentiation in all populations. Overall, the present study sheds new light on genetic differentiation and relationships of native goats in core countries of Middle East.
Keywords:
Goat
heterozygosity
Relationships
