Genetic relationships of the Portuguese Lidia bovine populations

Document Type : Full paper (Original article)

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student in Agrarian Sciences, Division of Animal Reproduction, Department of Agrarian Sciences, University of the Azores, CITA-A, 9701-851 Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal

2 Division of Animal Reproduction, Department of Agrarian Sciences, University of the Azores, CITA-A, 9701-851 Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal

3 Genetics Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Abstract

To clarify the genetic relationships among the Lidia breed lineages and two main Portuguese Lidia bovine populations, Casta Portuguesa and Brava dos Açores, 24 autosomal microsatellites were analyzed in 120 samples. Brava dos Açores showed the highest observed and expected heterozygosity (0.73 and 0.70, respectively) while Casta Portuguesa showed the lowest observed and expected heterozygosity (0.51 and 0.50, respectively). The results of this study were compared with the previous microsatellites data
from the main Lidia bovine lineages. Casta Portuguesa was the most genetically isolated Lidia bovine population as revealed by the average FST genetic distance value with respect to the other lineages (32%). All the populations of Portuguese Lidia had negative FIS values. The Neighbour-joining dendrogram grouped Casta Portuguesa in the same branch with Miura, which was supported by the STRUCTURE software. The results evidenced low levels of genetic diversity and high levels of genetic differentiation in Casta
Portuguesa and high levels of genetic diversity in Brava dos Açores populations, probably due to the crossbreeding of different bovine lineages at origin, and genetic flow among herds.

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