Comparison of Greek breeds of horses using RAPD markers

To assess genetic markers able to distinguish between five Greek breeds of horses, the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used. A t otal of 40 primers were initially screened in all breeds to identify primer s that consistently revealed well-amplified, polymorphic bands. Despite the variability that was found within breeds, no specific RAPD marker for the discrimination of the breeds was detected. This is probably due to the exte nsive cross breeding that has taken place over the years, resulting in a mi xing of breeds. The high phenotypic divergence of the pony of Skyros from a ll the other Greek breeds of horses could be explained in terms of micro-ev olutionary processes, such as natural selection owing to differential fitne ss. In addition, to determine the genetic affinities between breeds, all sa mples were screened with five primers. These primers produced a total of 93 bands, 51 of which were polymorphic. Data analysis for genetic polymorphis m revealed a degree of divergence between breeds. According to the discrimi nant analysis (DA) classification, 100% of the individuals examined in this study could be classified correctly into their breeds. The results of this study show that RAPDs could be a powerful tool for the classification test ing of individual horses, as well as for the determination of the genetic v ariation found among breeds, which is important for a proper management pol icy designed to protect this species.