Assessment of genetic diversity of Turkish and Algerian native sheep breeds

In Algeria and Turkey, the sheep production systems are based on the under extensive rural conditions and their genetic management has led to increased homozygosity and hence productivity loss. The identification of inter-breed and intra-breed genetic diversity plays a key role in the shaping of conservation and breeding programs. The present study was conducted to investigate the genetic diversity of native sheep breeds reared in Turkey and Algeria. A total of 240 animals from four Algerian (Hamra, Ouled Djellal, Sidaou, and Tazegzawt) and four Turkish (White Karaman, South Karaman, Karacabey Merino, and Kıvırcık) native sheep breeds were genotyped with fourteen microsatellite markers recommended by FAO. A total of 340 alleles were detected from fourteen markers studied. All the eight breeds exhibited moderate to high levels of genetic diversity, with a slight superiority of the Algerian sheep breeds. Overall FIS value was low, but highly significant (p < 0.001). It may have been due to the high inbreeding within the population. The mean global coefficient of gene differentiation (GST) showed that approximately 94.0 % of the genetic variation was within-population. The highest number of private alleles with a frequency above 5 % was observed in Ouled Djellal sheep. Structure analysis of populations studied revealed the most appropriate K with four genetic clusters. As the result, the dendrogram showed that the Algerian sheep breeds were completely separated from the Turkish sheep breeds furthermore the Bayesian clustering revealed a high level of admixture, especially in Algerian sheep populations.