The Genetic Variability and Relationships of Japanese and Foreign Chickens Assessed by Microsatellite DNA Profiling

• Published in: Asian-australasian journal of animal sciences Vol. 19; no. 10; pp. 1369 - 1378
• Main Authors: Osman, S.A.M, Sekino, M, Nishihata, A, Kobayashi, Y, Takenaka, W, Kinoshita, K, Kuwayama, T, Nishibori, M, Yamamoto, Y, Tsudzuki, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Microsatellite; Genetic Relationship; Genetic Variability; Native Japanese Chickens
• ISSN: 1011-2367; 1976-5517

This is the first study in which genetic variability and relationships of a large number of Japanese chicken breeds were revealed along with those of several foreign breeds by using microsatellite DNA polymorphisms. Twenty-eight breeds (34 populations) of native Japanese chickens and seven foreign breeds or varieties were analyzed. The mean number of alleles per locus, the proportion of the polymorphic loci, and the expected average heterozygosity ranged from 1.75 to 4.70, from 0.55 to 1.00, and from 0.21 to 0.67, respectively. Microsatellite alleles being unique to a particular population were detected in some populations. The $D_A$ genetic distance between populations was obtained from allele frequency for every pair of the populations to construct a neighbor-joining tree. According to the phylogenetic tree, excluding a few exceptions, native Japanese chicken breeds and foreign breeds were clearly separated from each other. Furthermore, the tree topology divided native Japanese chickens into four main classes, which was almost in accordance with the classification based on body morphology; that is, (1) Cochin type, (2) Malay type, (3) layer type, and (4) intermediate type between Malay and layer types. This is the first finding for native Japanese chickens.