Nucleotide sequence variability in 16s rrna gene between the small and large ruminant livestock species

Partial 16S rRNA nucleotide sequences from goat and sheep were aligned and nucleotide sequence variation was estimated within and between ruminant and non-ruminant species. Very low polymorphism was observed within goat sequences (0.17%), while within sheep, no polymorphism was observed. In other three livestock species i.e. buffalo, cattle and pig, 1.02 to 1.19% within species nucleotide polymorphism was observed. Between goat and sheep; and also between cattle and buffalo, comparatively less polymorphism (5.90–6.60%) was observed as compared to those between goat/sheep and cattle/buffaloes (7.95–8.63%) and between pig and other livestock species (12.52–13.87%). The increase in nucleotide variability was also accompanied with the increase in proportion of transition substitution. Least genetic distances were observed between goat and sheep (0.087), however, pig showed maximum genetic distances (0.129–0.130) with them. Genetic distances between goat/sheep and buffalo/cattle were more or less similar.