Genetic analysis of Ankamali pigs of India using microsatellite markers and their comparison with other domesticated Indian pig types

Abstract

Ankamali pigs, the domesticated native pigs of Kerala province of India were genetically characterized using 23 FAO recommended microsatellite markers and were compared with other native Indian pig types and Large White pigs. Twenty-six blood samples were collected from genetically unrelated animals from their breeding tract and DNA was isolated by standard procedure of phenol/chloroform. The genomic DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at these 23 microsatellite loci, which were also used earlier to characterize Desi (North Indian) and Gahuri (North-East Indian) pigs, the other two native domesticated pig types of India. The PCR products were resolved by denaturing urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and alleles were visualized after silver nitrate staining. The data were analysed for allele size range, number of alleles, allelic frequencies, heterozygosity and polymorphism information content for each locus. The allele size range varied between 92-108 bp at locus S0026 and 280-296 bp at locus IGF-1. The total number of alleles varied between five (S0178 and S0386) and 11 (S0355). The mean observed and expected heterozygosities were found to be 0.74 +/- 0.09 and 0.83 +/- 0.03 respectively. In the neighbour-joining dendrogram based on D(A) genetic distances developed after 1000 bootstraps, the Ankamali pigs did not show genetic closeness either with other native Indian pig types or exotic Large White pigs with high bootstrap values indicating genetic distinctness of Ankamali pigs.

Microsatellite based diversity analysis of native pigs of North-Eastern India

“…The genetic diversity of LWY pigs or other European pig breeds were also reported in various other studies (Fredholm et al, 1993;van Zeveran et al, 1995;Laval et al, 2000;Martinez et al, 2000). However, the high genetic diversity have been reported earlier in Desi and Gahuri pigs by us (Behl et al, 2002 andBehl et al, 2006) and also in Chinese and Mexican pig populations (Lemus Flores et al, 2001;Fang et al, 2005). A total of 23 and 22 private alleles were observed for Niang Megha and Tenyi Vo pigs, respectively.…”

Patterns of genetic diversity of local pig populations in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil

“…From the 18 microsatellite loci analyzed, nine presented high polymorphism (PIC>0.7) and only two had PIC lower than 0.6. According to Botstein et al (1980)'s classification, markers with PIC superior to 0.5 are considered very informative; therefore, all loci used in this study were informative. The highest PIC values (0.939 and 0.903) corresponded to the microsatellites that presented higher allele numbers (S0005 and S0068, respectively).…”

“…Kim et al (2005) found a strong relation between Korean pigs and the Berkshire and Landrace commercial breeds, and results obtained by Behl et al (2006) identified a distinct type of Indian pig. Such examples reinforce the value of using microsatellite markers in studies focused on the characterization and conservation of animal genetic resources.…”

Genetic diversity of Brazilian pig breeds evidenced by microsatellite markers

“…Analyzing three local and one commercial pig breeds in India with 23 microsatellite markers, Behl et al (2006) found higher values of expected heterozygosity (0.74 to 0.83) and an effective number of alleles varying between 4.78 and 5.34. On the other hand, Fang et al (2005) obtained a lower mean value for this same parameter (0.50) and the effective number of alleles found was from 1.69 to 4.76, when analyzing 32 Chinese native breeds, three commercial breeds and two wild types with 34 microsatellite markers.…”

“…Until now, among all the types of molecular markers, the microsatellite loci are the most widely used when studying the genetic diversity and population structure of livestock (Jordana et al, 2003;Yang et al, 2003;Parker et al, 2004;Martínez et al, 2006;Peter et al, 2007;Li et al, 2004;Kim et al, 2005;Behl et al, 2006). Although the Brazilian naturalized pig breeds have been little studied it is known that they present adaptation traits that could be useful in breeding programs aiming at future consumer demands.…”