Diversity in six Goat populations in the middle and lower Yangtze River valley

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLPs) markers were used to investigate the genetic variation in six autochthonous goat populations distributed in the middle and lower Yangtze River valley. The goat populations were Chengdu Grey Goat (CGG), Chuandong White Goat (CWG), Banjiao Goat (BG), Matou Goat (MG), Hui Goat (HG) and Yangtze River Delta White Goat (YRDWG). A total of 180 individuals (30 per population) were analysed using ten selected AFLP primer combinations that produced 78 clear polymorphism loci. The variability at AFLP loci was largely maintained within populations, as indicated by the average genetic similarity, and they were ranged from 0.745 to 0.758 within populations and 0.951 to 0.970 between populations. No breed specific markers were identified. Cluster analysis based on Nei's genetic distance between populations indicated that Chengdu Grey Goat is the most distant population, while CWG and YROWG were the closest populations, followed by BG, HG and MG. Genetic diversity of the goat populations didn't confirm what was expected on the basis of their geographical location, which may reflect undocumented migrations and gene flows and identify an original genetic resource. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2003. Vol 16, No. 2 : 277-281)