title: Analysis of Geographic and Pairwise Distances among Chinese Cashmere Goat Populations.
abstract: This study investigated the geographic and pairwise distances of nine Chinese local Cashmere goat populations through the analysis of 20 microsatellite DNA markers. Fluorescence PCR was used to identify the markers, which were selected based on their significance as identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG). In total, 206 alleles were detected; the average allele number was 10.30; the polymorphism information content of loci ranged from 0.5213 to 0.7582; the number of effective alleles ranged from 4.0484 to 4.6178; the observed heterozygosity was from 0.5023 to 0.5602 for the practical sample; the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.5783 to 0.6464; and Allelic richness ranged from 4.7551 to 8.0693. These results indicated that Chinese Cashmere goat populations exhibited rich genetic diversity. Further, the Wright's F-statistics of subpopulation within total (FST) was 0.1184; the genetic differentiation coefficient (GST) was 0.0940; and the average gene flow (Nm) was 2.0415. All pairwise FST values among the populations were highly significant (p<0.01 or p<0.001), suggesting that the populations studied should all be considered to be separate breeds. Finally, the clustering analysis divided the Chinese Cashmere goat populations into at least four clusters, with the Hexi and Yashan goat populations alone in one cluster. These results have provided useful, practical, and important information for the future of Chinese Cashmere goat breeding.
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Jian-Bin
authors: JB
authors: Liu
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Fan
authors: F
authors: Wang
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Xia
authors: X
authors: Lang
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Xi
authors: X
authors: Zha
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Xiao-Ping
authors: XP
authors: Sun
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Yao-Jing
authors: YJ
authors: Yue
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Rui-Lin
authors: RL
authors: Feng
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Bo-Hui
authors: BH
authors: Yang
authors: Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Guo
keywords: Cashmere Goat; Genetic Diversity; Geographic Distance; Pairwise Distance