USE OF RANDOMLY AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA MARKERS FOR THE GENETIC-ANALYSIS OF RELATEDNESS AND DIVERSITY IN CHICKENS AND TURKEYS

A study involving the use of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) w as conducted to evaluate genetic polymorphism and relatedness within a nd among four chicken breeds: Araucona, Rhode Island Red, White Leghor n, and White Plymouth Rock, and two turkey populations, a long-term ra ndombred and a commercial strain. A total of 60 random primers were us ed in the RAPD analyses. Forty-two of the 60 primers tested amplified patterns with at least one polymorphic fragment in one or more of the populations. Six of these 42 primers amplified polymorphic fragments i n each of the six strains with a within- and between-population averag e band-sharing frequency of less than one but above zero (P < 0.05). D ifferences among the six primers for genetic distance (D) among popula tions were significant (P < 0.05). A consensus dendogram was therefore developed to show the phylogenetic relationships among the population s. As expected, estimates of D between populations were lowest within species and highest between species. The results provide evidence of t he applicability of RAPD to determining genetic relatedness within and among different poultry populations and in developing reproducible ma rkers useful in evaluating individual variation in chickens and turkey s.