Genetic Variation and Relationships of Korean Native Chickens and Foreign Breeds Using 15 Microsatellite Markers

The purpose of this study was to assess the genetic variation and establish the relationship amongst breeds and strains using 15 chicken specific microsatellite markers. A total of 285 unrelated DNA samples from four Korean native chicken strains (Black strain of Korean native chicken; KL, Red Brown strain of Korean native chicken; KR, Ogol strain of Korean native chicken; KS and Yellow Brown strain of Korean native chicken; KY) and three introduced chicken breeds (F strain of White Leghorn; LF, K strain of White Leghorn; LK, Rhode Island Red; RC and Cornish; CN) were genotyped to estimate within and between breed genetic diversity indices. All the loci analyzed in 15 microsatellite markers showed a polymorphic pattern and the number of alleles ranged from 5 to 14. The polymorphism information content (PIC) of UMA1019 was the highest (0.872) and that of ADL0234 was the lowest (0.562). The expected total heterozygosity (He) within breed and mean number of observed alleles ranged from 0.540 (LF) to 0.689 (KY), and from 3.47 (LK) to 6.07 (KR), respectively. The genetic variation of KR and KY were the highest and the lowest within Korean native strains, respectively. The genetic distance results showed that Korean native chicken strains were separated with the three introduced chicken breeds clustered into another group. The lowest distance (0.149) was observed between the KR and KL breeds and the highest distance (0.855) between the KR and LK breeds. The microsatellite polymorphism data were shown to be useful for assessing the genetic relationship between Korean native strains and other foreign breeds. (