title: Biodiversity of 52 chicken populations assessed by microsatellite typing of DNA pools.
abstract: In a project on the biodiversity of chickens funded by the European Commission (EC), eight laboratories collaborated to assess the genetic variation within and between 52 populations from a wide range of chicken types. Twenty-two di-nucleotide microsatellite markers were used to genotype DNA pools of 50 birds from each population. The polymorphism measures for the average, the least polymorphic population (inbred C line) and the most polymorphic population (Gallus gallus spadiceus) were, respectively, as follows: number of alleles per locus, per population: 3.5, 1.3 and 5.2; average gene diversity across markers: 0.47, 0.05 and 0.64; and proportion of polymorphic markers: 0.91, 0.25 and 1.0. These were in good agreement with the breeding history of the populations. For instance, unselected populations were found to be more polymorphic than selected breeds such as layers. Thus DNA pools are effective in the preliminary assessment of genetic variation of populations and markers. Mean genetic distance indicates the extent to which a given population shares its genetic diversity with that of the whole tested gene pool and is a useful criterion for conservation of diversity. The distribution of population-specific (private) alleles and the amount of genetic variation shared among populations supports the hypothesis that the red jungle fowl is the main progenitor of the domesticated chicken.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental quality sciences, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Hillel@agri.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Jossi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hillel
authors.forename: Martien A M
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Groenen
authors.forename: Michèle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tixier-Boichard
authors.forename: Abraham B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Korol
authors.forename: Lior
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: Valery M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Kirzhner
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: Asili
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barre-Dirie
authors.forename: Richard P M A
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Crooijmans
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Elo
authors.forename: Marcus W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Freidlin
authors.forename: Asko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mäki-Tanila
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oortwijn
authors.forename: Pippa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vignal
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wimmers
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weigend
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D009154:Mutation; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic