Genetic diversity among some important poultry species by using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA markers

The potential use of randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was evaluate d as a source of genetic markers for studying variation among poultry speci es, viz. chicken, quail, guineafowl and turkey and to establish genetic rel ationship among them. Random decamer primers (32) were tested, 29 of these primers generated species specific pattern. The 4 species were distinct in RAPD pattern. Out of 696 amplicons which were scored, 95 % were polymorphic suggesting high amount of polymorphism. between the species. The genetic s imilarity between the species measured by band sharing (0.326 to 0.395) and Jaccard's similarity coefficient (0.208 to 0.272) revealed that these spec ies are separated at low correlation values. The genetic distances estimate d from band sharing frequency (0.998 to 1.236) showed that these species ar e distant from each other. The phylogenetic relations among these poultry s pecies based on Jaccard's similarity coefficient also revealed the similar pattern. The results suggest that RAPD can be used as a powerful tool for s pecies identification, estimation of genetic relationship and molecular sys tematic analysis in the poultry species.