Analysis On Genetic Diversity Of Reindeer Population In The Using-reindeer Tribe In China

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is only distributed in Northwestern Greater Higgnan Mountains in China, forming a unique reindeer population. The 8 Hunters Points of the Using-reindeer Tribe keep the reindeer individually and manage independently, the reindeer is a semi-wild state. The range of activities is less than 70 hm2, the population is only more than 600, and it has been endangerment or even extinction, facing a great test. Reindeer has the high economic value and the very important ecological value, currently reindeer is included in The list of countries to protect the beneficial or of important economic, scientific terrestrial wild animal in China, it is one of the most worthy protected species in China. For scientific evaluation, protection and utilization of the Chinese unique reindeer species resources, it is particularly important that we embarked on the molecular markers of the reindeer population systematically to protect its unique genetic information. The research analyzed the genetic diversity of eight reindeer population of the Using-reindeer Tribe by microsatellite DNA markers. The results showed as follows:1. The research chosen 11 pairs of microsatellite primers from 26 primers. The 11 primers had amplified better products and had a good polymorphism; they can be used to research the genetic diversity of reindeer.2. Based on the 11 microsatellite loci, we analyzed frequency of alleles, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and neutral test for 163 individuals of 8 Hunters Point of the Using-reindeer Tribe. We detected 85 alleles and 7.7 in average. In Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium test, YSH, BLJY, DML, DW, GWQ, SYL and MLYS Hunters Point reindeer population has 1,4,2,2,3,9,5 sites be in line with H-W balanced, but BDX Hunters Point has none site complying H-W balanced. In neutral test, observation F values of seven microsatellite loci are within 95% confidence interval, they are the neutral sites.3. As for 11 microsatellite loci in 8 reindeer populations, the average of heterozygosity ranged from 0.3736 to 0.5299, and the average of polymorphism information content ranged from 0.5654 to 0.7144. Therefore, in this study, the 11 microsatellite loci analyzed were highly polymorphic, which can be used to evaluate the genetic diversity in reindeer.4. In the analysis of genetic distance of eight reindeer populations, the genetic distance between each Hunters Point caribou populations ranging from 0.0800 to 0.3107. The maximum genetic distance is 0.3107 between BDX Hunters Point and SYL Hunters Point reindeer populations, and the minimum genetic distance is 0.0800 between BDX Hunters Point and BLJY Hunters Point reindeer populations.