Assessment of within breed diversity using microsatellites in mecheri sheep of Tamil Nadu

An investigation on genetic diversity in Mecheri breed of sheep of Tamil Nadu was carried out using 25 FAO recommended microsatellite markers by automated genotyping method. A total of 162 alleles were found with the number of observed alleles ranging from 2 (OarAE129 and CSSM31) to 11 (INRA62 and OarCP49) with a mean of 6.48±0.52 across all loci. The sizes of the alleles ranged from 71 (OarCP20) to 289 (HSC) bp. All the microsatellite loci were found to be highly polymorphic. The mean polymorphic information content was found to be 0.6429. The χ² test revealed more than 50% of loci were influenced by the genetic forces. The means for observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.6050 and 0.6856, respectively. The high level of genetic variability present in Mecheri breed as result of wider distribution and population size suggest that this breed is a reservoir of genetic diversity which needs to be conserved.