Measurement of genetic parameters within and between turkey lines using DNA fingerprinting.

An experiment was conducted to estimate genetic parameters in six experimental and five commercial primary breeding turkey lines using DNA fingerprinting. Eighteen individual DNA samples per line were digested with an HaeIII restriction enzyme and hybridized with Jeffreys' 33.6 probe. The DNA fingerprints were analyzed with computer programs to measure band sharing (BS) and band frequencies. Within lines, BS ranged from 0.39 to 0.62 and reflected the history of the experimental lines. Among lines, BS ranged from 0.21 to 0.33 with an average of 0.26. The BS among the experimental lines reflected known relationships. All lines were subdivided based on indices of population subdivision. About 26 hypervariable loci were estimated from band frequencies. Average heterozygosity and genetic variability estimated from band frequencies were significantly different among lines and displayed a result very similar to the BS among lines. Genetic distance indices among lines were also significantly different and reflected known relationships between the experimental lines. The experimental selected lines displayed lower genetic diversity than did the other lines. The parameters measuring genetic diversity within lines had higher correlation coefficients among them than did the parameters between lines. The computer program used in this study made DNA fingerprinting easier to use in population analysis.