Genetic characterization of indigenous duck of Tripura state in India using microsatellite markers

Abstract Exploring genetic variability by microsatellite markers is essential for genetic improvement, preservation of indigenous breeds and production of high quality offspring. Lack of information on microsatellite profiling of indigenous duck of Tripura has endorsed interest for this present study. Genomic DNA from randomly selected thirty six (36) native ducks was analysed at twenty five duck specific microsatellite loci, alleles were separated on 3.4% MetaPhore™ agarose and their sizes were determined by Image Lab software. Allelic data were analyzed by POPGENE version 1.31. All the studied loci demonstrated polymorphic patterns resolving 112 alleles. Allele number varied from 2 to 15 and average number of allele (Na) was 4.480 ± 0.659. Allele sizes and allele frequency ranged from 96 to 357 bp and 0.014 to 0.819, respectively. Average Nei’s heterozygosity, effective number (Ne) of alleles and Shannon’s Information index (I) were 0.617 ± 0.036, 3.538 ± 0.527 and 1.184 ± 0.112, respectively. The estimated Botstein’s polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.252 (CAUD020) to 0.911 (CAUD019) with an average of 0.562 ± 0.040 and sixteen loci were moderate to highly polymorphic and informative (PIC˃0.5). Ne was less than Na at all the loci, indicating prevalence of heterozygosity. Chi-square and G-square statistics revealed Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium at all the loci. Moderate to high level of polymorphism at all analyzed microsatellite loci indicated that these markers might be helpful for genetic characterization and adoption of appropriate conservation strategies to exploit optimum genetic potentiality of indigenous duck of Tripura.