Animal Molecular Breeding 2016, Vol.6, No.3, 1-5
4
et al., 2003) based on analysis of 22 microsatellite sequences. Results obtained were in agreement with earlier
hypothesis that the red jungle fowl is the major progenitor of the domestic chicken. Using allele ladders for each
microsatellite, scoring can be standardized between gels and even between laboratories (Weigend et al., 2013).
The authors further argued that single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been identified as a very promising
class of molecular markers not only for biodiversity studies. Modern biotechnological technologies and the
dramatic expansion of the sequence information within species will afford completely new possibilities for the use
of genome variability in the next years to study diversity within and between breeds. SNPs will allow assessing
variation within coding regions of genes, and may therefore provide higher sensitivity than microsatellites for
identifying populations of greater conservation value, the authors noted. The authors however cautioned that the
suitability of SNPs as molecular markers in biodiversity studies needs to be properly evaluated, since DNA
polymorphism at the population level is affected by various constraints such as the position in the genome (neutral
vs non-neutral), drift, selection and recombination.
AFLPs are reproducible biallelic markers that are distributed through the genome as restriction sites, and they
allow estimates of genetic differentiation between breeds and related species (Ajmone-Marsan et al.
,
2002
).
AFLPs evaluate the presence or absence of amplification of specific fragments which correspond to insertion,
deletion between restriction sites, or single nucleotide polymorphism at a site recognized by restriction enzymes
(Semik and Krawczyk, 2011).Using AFLP markers, De Marchi et al. (2006) determined the genetic diversity of
local chicken breeds of north- eastern Italy.
7 Conclusion
It is important to collate research information on genetic diversity of and genetic distance between different
populations and breeds of local poultry stock especially, as this is essential to the conservation of these resources.
It is advocated that a database containing detailed information on the genetic diversity of Nigerian poultry breeds
be developed as this will serve as a useful tool in the conservation of these breeds.
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