Germplasm Characterization Of Plateau Merino Populations Of China

The germplasm for each species means its whole genetic material, i.e. its genome. There is different germplasm in the character for every species. The germplasm is very important for every species because it is a nameplate for animal, plant or microorganism. The breeds of Gansu Alpin Merino (GSM) and Qinghai Merino (QHM) have been developing by China. They both are plateau-type merino breeds. The breeds are living and feeding at the region of the sea level of 3000 m or so in China. The fine-wool sheep husbandry is a traditional industry in Qinghai and Gansu. It is an important income for the local farmer. In order to clarify the molecular markers of the Alpin merino, to elucidate the genetic relationship and the genetic difference between GSM and QHM, and to provide the fundamental data on evaluating the germplasm and biodiversity of livings, the characterization of the microsatellite DNA markers of GSM and QHM populations was carried out. The control groups include the other native sheep breeds, i.e. Tibeten sheep (from the southern Gansu, Huangchen sheep farm of Gansu and Sanjiaochen sheep farm of Qinghai, respectively), Tan sheep, Hu sheep, Small-tailed Han sheep and Minxian Black fur sheep, and two imported exotic sheep breeds, i.e. Texel and Dorset. The total of 11 populations was sampled. All the populations were assessed for germplasm characterization or genetic diversity using 15 microsatellite loci. A wide range of statistical analyses were performed on the data to answer questions on population genetic diversity, relationship and differentiation. The results are as follows: (1) A total of 201 alleles were detected at 15 microsatellite loci in 432 sheep individuals of 11 populations. There are 128 alleles in the populations of QHM and GSM, respectively. There is the dominant allele at each microsatellite locus. And the dominant allele at each microsatellite is different for each population, for example, the dominant allele size at locus HSC is 281 bp and 23.86% of allele frequency for QHM, the size 279 bp and 21.59% of allele frequency for GSM. The...