title: Phylogenetic relationships of German heavy draught horse breeds inferred from mitochondrial DNA D-loop variation.
abstract: We analysed a 610-bp mitochondrial (mt)DNA D-loop fragment in a sample of German draught horse breeds and compared the polymorphic sites with sequences from Arabian, Hanoverian, Exmoor, Icelandic, Sorraia and Przewalski's Horses as well as with Suffolk, Shire and Belgian horses. In a total of 65 horses, 70 polymorphic sites representing 47 haplotypes were observed. The average percentage of polymorphic sites was 11.5% for the mtDNA fragment analysed. In the nine different draught horse breeds including South German, Mecklenburg, Saxon Thuringa coldblood, Rhenisch German, Schleswig Draught Horse, Black Forest Horse, Shire, Suffolk and Belgian, 61 polymorphic sites and 24 haplotypes were found. The phylogenetic analysis failed to show monophyletic groups for the draught horses. The analysis indicated that the draught horse populations investigated consist of diverse genetic groups with respect to their maternal lineage.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Aberle
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drögemüller
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Distl
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005858:Germany; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006736:Horses / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial