Genetic assessment of local sheep breeds of the Republic of Tajikistan based on STR markers

The natural conditions of the Republic of Tajikistan had promoted the rise of sheep breeding. In this regard, many hardy and highly productive local breeds were obtained. Here, we presented a genetic study of the Gissar, Tajik and Pamir fine-fleeced sheep based on microsatellites. The polymorphism of 11 STR loci was studied using a genetic analyzer. Statistical processing and data visualization were performed in software GenAIEx 6.503, PAST and Structure 2.3.4.The effective number of alleles varied from 2.81 in the group of fine-fleeced sheep to 5.16 in the group of Tajik sheep.There were found 5,73; 3.36 and 4.91 informative alleles per locus in the Tajik, fine-fleeced and Gissar sheep, respectively. The highest level of genetic diversity was identified in the Tajik sheep. In all groups, there was a deficit of heterozygotes, which was 8.2%; 10.2% and 18.2% in the Tajik, Gissar and Pamir fine-fleeced sheep breeds, respectively. Based on the matrix of Nei`s genetic distances, a phylogenetic tree was constructed using UPGMA method. The Gissar and Tajik sheep formed a cluster according their common origin. The pairwise Fst values showed a moderate differentiation and were 0.123 between the Gissar and Tajik sheep; 0.189 between the Pamir fine-wool and Tajik sheep and 0.239 between the Gissar and Pamir fine-wool sheep. To establish the individual assignment to a group, cluster analysis was performed in STRUCTURE. All sheep were assigned to their own clusters. The average values of the membership criterion in own cluster were high in all groups and were to Q_1/3 = 0.967 ± 0.014 ; Q_2/3 = 0.990 ± 0.004 and Q_3/3 = 0.971 ± 0.010 for the Tajik, Pamir fine-fleeced and Gissar sheep, respectively. Thus, the studied sheep groups are clearly differentiated and are characterized by high withinbreed consolidation. Research will be continued on a larger sample.

STR-маркеры, domestic sheep, local breeds, Gissar breed, allele pool, genetic diversity, STR markers, identification

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