A Comparable genetic diversity between chicken ecotypes of different zones using DNA barcoding

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to verify the reliability of COI bar- codes in the assessment of genetic diversity of two ecotypes from different ecozones.
 Methods: The DNA sequences of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) barcodes of 50 hens belonging to two ecotypes of Ismalia Egypt (ISM) and Taif Saudi Arabia (TA) were isolated and analyzed.
 Results: This study results showed that no noticeable great differences among all barcode’s sequences of both ecotypes. The aver- age length of both ecotypes was 589 bp. ISM ecotypes have a relatively wider length range. The overall mean of GC% content was 48±0.01. Both ecotypes have the same number of sites 548 bp. ISM ecotype has 523 monomorphic sites whereas TA ecotype has slightly fewer monomorphic sites 517. The ISM ecotype has 7 singleton sites and 18 Parsimony informative sites. TA ecotype has little more polymorphic, that is 12 singleton sites and 19 Par- simony informative sites. The number of mutations (η) was larger in ISM (46) compared to 38 mutations for TA ecotype. Both ecotypes had the same number of Haplotypes (25), and haplotypes diversity (1) as well as the variance of haplotype diversity.
 Conclusion: These results indicated a comparable level of genetic diversity of both ecotypes, which in turn may refer to a similarity of evolutionary forces that affect both ecotypes. Based on the present results, COI gene can be used in barcoding. The COI provides an objective the foundation for identification of ecotypes and therefore could be used for a rapid establishment of a variety of identifications.