Genetic Variation within and between Three Iranian Goat Populations Using Nine Microsatellite Markers

Genetic diversity is essential and mirrors for diversity pattern and population evolution. With this motiva-tion, the aim here is to investigate genetic similarities of three indigenous goats of Iran: Azerbaijan (n=50), Sarbisheh (n=50), Busher (n=29) using 9 microsatellites markers. We extracted genomic DNA and then employed routine polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol for amplification of nine specific microsatellite markers. The experimental raw genotype was applied to generate summary of statistics for molecular diver-sity criteria. From the results, 8 microsatellites visualized satisfactory electrophoresis pattern and reasonable degree of polymorphism. The ILSTS004 (0.42) and BM415 (1.8) microsatellite markers indicated highest and lowest value for Shannon index. We obtain 57-67% range for observed heterozygosity value regarding to Azerbaijan and Sarbisheh goat, respectively. From these results it is clear the high genetic similarity was found between the Sarbisheh and Busher populations. Overall, bottleneck based evidence using IAM and SMM models demonstrated normal ‘L’-shaped distribution in investigated Azerbaijan and Sarbisheh goat. In conclusion, this analysis leads evidence for sufficient genetic variation within investigated goat.