Molecular genetic diversity profiling of Nandidurga goat breed using microsatellite markers

Abstract

The genetic diversity of Nandidurga goats using ten FAO-recommended microsatellite markers was conducted. The genomic DNA from goats of different flocks were PCR-amplified with a panel of 10 microsatellite markers. Microsatellite PCR products were run on Metaphore agarose gel and the raw data obtained was analysed. A total of 105 alleles were identified, with the observed number of alleles per locus ranging from 4 to 15 (mean 10.50±0.47) and the effective number of alleles ranging from 2.74 to 11.26 (mean 6.98±0.29). These findings reflect higher allelic diversity than previous reports by Tantia et al. (2018) and Jayshree et al. (2019). The observed heterozygosity (Ho) varied from 0 to 1, while expected heterozygosity (He) exceeded 0.5 across all loci, confirming the markers’ applicability for assessing genetic variation in the breed. Mean Ho, He, and Nei’s heterozygosity were 0.28±0.02, 0.84±0.01, and 0.83±0.01, respectively. Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) ranged from 0.573 to 0.904, with a mean of 0.808, denoting high informativeness of these markers. Shannon’s Information Index averaged 2.038, indicating substantial polymorphism. The mean inbreeding coefficient (FIS) was 0.025, with values between-0.474 and 0.452, suggesting limited inbreeding in the population. All microsatellite loci deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p