Genetic diversity of emu population in a Japanese farm based on microsatellite DNA analysis
2019
Koshiishi, Y. | Okubo-Murata, M. | Shimoi, G. | Hirayama, H. | Souma, K. | Wada, K.
The emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is predicted to be a new livestock animal for oil, meat and egg production. However, the genetic structure of emu populations in Japanese farms is scarcely known. The aim of this study was to determine the genetic diversity and population structure in the largest emu farm in Japan. We collected feather pulps of emu chicks (N = 131) from 40, 20, 23, and 48 individuals hatched at 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively, in the Okhotsk Emu farm in Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan. Using six microsatellite markers, we investigated the genetic diversity and structure of this farmed emu population. The number of alleles (Nsub(A)) were 4.83, 4.17, 4.17, and 7.17, in individuals hatched in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. Expected and observed heterozygosity (Hsub(E) ; Hsub(O), respectively) was 0.466/0.339, 0.426/0.325, 0.433/0.384, and 0.550/0.347, in each year, respectively. A high inbreeding coefficient (Fsub(IS)) was observed in all tested generations (0.113-0.369). The Structure program and unrooted phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the Abashiri emu population is largely divided into three to five different clades. Our results suggested that the genetic diversity in the Abashiri emu population is low, and that it contains three to five genetic lineages. These data may help guide a more sustainable breeding of emus in Japan.
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