Microsatellite markerbased genetic diversity in Mareecha and Barela breeds of dromedary camel from Pakistan

Abstract

The genetic diversity of Pakistani dromedary camels is poorly documented. The present study evaluated the genetic variations of two well-known Pakistani camel breeds, Mareecha and Barela, that are well-adapted to the Cholistan desert climate. Camel can serve as a benefcial participant in the food supply chain by providing milk, meat and other food products for the livelihood of pastoral peoples. To explore a new world of resources, greater atention to needed to create standard procedures to genetically characterize, classify and identify camel breeds in the country. For this purpose, 66 unrelated animals of the Mareecha (n=35) and Barela (n=31) breeds were genotyped using a set of 12 labelled microsatellite loci. DNA fragment sizes were determined in an ABI 3130 Genetic Analyzer. All microsatellite markers were successfully amplifed and exhibited a polymorphic nature, with an average Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) of 0.72 and 0.70 in Mareecha and Barela, respectively. A total of 107 alleles with an average of 8.91 alleles per locus were identifed by these markers in both breeds. CMS15 was highly polymorphic with 13 alleles, while VOLP-032 was the lowest with two loci. The F it and Fis values were low but high population differentiation (17%) was observed in both breeds, due to the migrations of pastoral people to different remote areas during climate fluctuations.