Genetic characterization of biodiversity in highly inbred chicken lines bymicrosatellite markers

Forty-two microsatellite loci were analysed in 23 highly inbred chicken lin es derived from Leghorn, Jungle Fowl, Fayoumi and Spanish breeds. Line-spec ific alleles among breeds and lines were detected. The band-sharing (BS) va lues were calculated and the proportion of shared alleles distances (Dps) w ere estimated. The BS values and Dps between sets of MHC-congenic lines ran ged from 0.74 to 0.96, and 0.05-0.35, respectively. The BS values between e ach pair of noncongenic Leghorn lines were 0.32-0.97, and between Leghorn a nd exotic (Jungle Fowl, Fayoumi and Spanish) breeds were 0.03-0.55. The Dps between Fayoumi lines and other lines were much larger (0.66-1.34) than wi thin Leghorns, and the Jungle Fowl breed had the largest distances with oth er lines (1.12-5.38). The phylogenetic consensus tree that was constructed grouped these 23 inbred chicken lines into four different clusters. These r esults are in accordance with the origin and breeding history of these inbr ed lines, which indicates that the use of microsatellites for the study of genetic biodiversity is accurate and reliable. In addition, the significanc e and value of inbred chicken lines in molecular genetic research is discus sed.