Study of polymorphism in some of the microsatellite markers in Mazandaran and Esfahan native chicken populations.

In order to studying of genetic variation in Mazandaran and Esfahan native chickens, twenty microsatellite markers were evaluated. These microsatellite markers were MCW0014, MCW0081, MCW0183, MCW0067, MCW0104, MCW0123, MCW0330, MCW0165, MCW0069, MCW0020, MCW0222, LEI0094, MCW0295, MCW0034, MCW0216, MCW0248, ADL0268, ADL0112, ADL0278 and lEI0166. Blood samples of 90 and 150 native chickens of Mazandaran and Esfahan were randomly taken, respectively. Genomic DNAs were isolated through optimized and modified salting-out procedure. The number of alleles varied from 1 to 6. In Mazandaran population one locus (MCW0216) and in Esfahan population three loci (MCW0216, MCW67 and MCW222) were monomorphic. The other loci were showed appropriate polymorphism. The most alleles were in Mazandaran population with six alleles (MCW034) and with five alleles (MCW104, MCW268 and LEI94) in Esfahan population. All the loci except MCW222 and MCW165 in Mazandaran population showed deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p0.005). Range of heterozygosity for these loci were observed between 0.5 (LEI0166, MCW222 and MCW69) and 0.7437 (LEI0094) in Esfahan and 0.2472 (MCW165) and 0.7328 (MCW123) in Mazandaran population. In two native populations, the least effective allele belongs to locus MCW216 and the most of it belongs to locus LEI0094 in Esfahan chickens and locus MCW123 in Mazandaran chickens. The most PIC was observed in locus MCW123 and MCW0104 in Mazandaran and Esfahan populations respectively. The least PIC in locus MCW165 in Mazandaran population and the least PIC in loci MCW067, MCW222 and MCW0069 in Esfahan population were shown. In two native population's loci with two alleles were shown the least amount of Shannon index. Loci with more alleles had more Shannon index. Generally, polymorphism in studying experimental populations was relatively low; therefore breeders of these populations should consider maintaining genetic diversity of chickens to these genetic resources are maintained in our country. These results could provide basic molecular data for the research on the germplasm characteristics of these two native chicken populations. Key words: locus, polymorphism, effective allele, heterozygosity