Exploring the genetic diversity and relationships between Spanish and Moroccan goats using microsatellite markers

Nineteen microsatellite markers were used to tag 668 goats from Spanish breeds from the Iberian Peninsula and Canary Islands and a population from north Morocco. The mean value of the allelic number per locus for the whole population studied was 12.7. The Moroccan population showed the highest values in allelic richness (8.043), with a mean number of alleles per locus of 10.7 and 17 private alleles. The levels of breed differentiation were relatively low (FST = 0.05). The AMOVA analysis revealed a significant genetic differentiation among populations, but only 4.96% of the variance could be explained by differences between the 13 populations. Most of the variation (93.42%) was due to variation within individuals. The dispersion of the breeds, according to the Correspondence Analysis, was consistent with the geographical locations of the different populations studied. We used microsatellite markers to carry out the first genetic study, which included a population from northern Morocco and 12 Spanish goat breeds which were mainly bred in southern Spain and the Canary Islands. All the approaches used showed that the Spanish and, in particular, the Moroccan population, presented an important level of genetic diversity. We reported that the Agrupacion de las Mesetas, Payoya and Malagueña breeds differ little and have a closer relationship with the Moroccan population. As for the Payoya and Malagueña breeds, this indicated that geographical proximity favoured the gene flow between them.Our results showed that the population studied had a robust structure, with a clear differentiation between the Moroccan population and the Spanish goat breed. The cluster of three Canary Island breeds was completely separate. Coincidences in geographical location and the genetic structures suggested that common ancestries and/or genetic flow between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa may have occurred over a long period of time or more recently.