İbrahim Cemal

Five Ovine Mitochondrial Lineages Identified From Sheep Breeds of the Near East

Archaeozoological evidence indicates that sheep were first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. To search for DNA sequence diversity arising from previously undetected domestication events, this survey examined nine breeds of sheep from modern-day Turkey and Israel. A total of 2027 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence from 197 sheep revealed a total of 85 haplotypes and a high level of genetic diversity. Six individuals carried three haplotypes, which clustered separately from the known ovine mtDNA lineages A, B, and C. Analysis of genetic distance, mismatch distribution, and comparisons with wild sheep confirmed that these represent two additional mtDNA lineages denoted D and E. The two haplogroup E sequences were found to link the previously identified groups A and C. The single haplogroup D sequence branched with the eastern mouflon (Ovis orientalis), urial (O. vignei), and argali (O. ammon) sheep. High sequence diversity (K = 1.86%, haplogroup D and O. orientalis) indicates that the wild progenitor of this domestic lineage remains unresolved. The identification in this study of evidence for additional domestication events adds to the emerging view that sheep were recruited from wild populations multiple times in the same way as for other livestock species such as goat, cattle, and pig.

Genetic diversity in nine native Turkish sheep breeds based on microsatellite analysis

The genetic variability of 204 sheep from nine breeds (Awassi, Çine Çaparı, Karakaş, Karya, Karayaka, Morkaraman, Norduz, Sakız and Tuj) growing in four different regions (western, northern, eastern and south-eastern Anatolia) was assessed using 18 microsatellite loci. High mean number of alleles, allelic richness and factorial correspondence analysis showed the degree of admixture between native sheep breeds of Turkey. The Karya and Çine Çaparı breeds were observed as the most distinct of the breeds, and possible introgressions were detected in other breeds. It was found that 8.9% of genetic variation resulted from the difference between the populations. The genetic variation in Turkish breeds was not much higher than that of European breeds, which might be a consequence of the recent sharp decrease in sheep numbers.

New genetic identification and characterisation of 12 Algerian sheep breeds by microsatellite markers

Abstract Exposition of variations between breeds is very important for genetic diversity. Determination of this variation is needed to reveal population structure and relationship between populations and planning national breeding and conservation programmes. This study was carried out in 296 animals from 12 different local sheep breeds (Barbarine, Ouled Djellal, Ifilene, Srandi, Darâa, Rembi, Berbere, Taâdmit, Hamra, Sidaou, Tazegzawt and D’men) reared in different regions of Algeria. Fifteen microsatellite markers were used to determine between breed genetic diversity. The population of 12 sheep breeds studied from Algeria exhibited a high number of alleles (24.67) and polymorphic information content (0.90). Observed heterozygosity values were lower than expected for all molecular markers except INRA0123 locus. Obtained GST value from the present study indicated that 1.9% of total genetic variation resulted from the differences between the breeds. The present study supplied important information to understand between breed genetic differences. Moreover, it has provided the opportunity to discuss with previously reported results. In light of these findings, it can be said that studied microsatellite markers can be successfully used to determine genetic diversity and population structure in Algerian sheep breeds.

Bayesian inference of genetic parameters for ultrasound scanning traits of Kivircik lambs.

Ultrasound scanning traits have been adapted in selection programs in many countries to improve carcass traits for lean meat production. As the genetic parameters of the traits interested are important for breeding programs, the estimation of these parameters was aimed at the present investigation. The estimated parameters were direct and maternal heritability as well as genetic correlations between the studied traits. The traits were backfat thickness (BFT), skin+backfat thickness (SBFT), eye muscle depth (MD) and live weights at the day of scanning (LW). The breed investigated was Kivircik, which has a high quality of meat. Six different multi-trait animal models were fitted to determine the most suitable model for the data using Bayesian approach. Based on deviance information criterion, a model that includes direct additive genetic effects, maternal additive genetic effects, direct maternal genetic covariance and maternal permanent environmental effects revealed to be the most appropriate for the data, and therefore, inferences were built on the results of that model. The direct heritability estimates for BFT, SBFT, MD and LW were 0.26, 0.26, 0.23 and 0.09, whereas the maternal heritability estimates were 0.27, 0.27, 0.24 and 0.20, respectively. Negative genetic correlations were obtained between direct and maternal effects for BFT, SBFT and MD. Both direct and maternal genetic correlations between traits were favorable, whereas BFT-MD and SBFT-MD had negligible direct genetic correlation. The highest direct and maternal genetic correlations were between BFT and SBFT (0.39) and between MD and LW (0.48), respectively. Our results, in general, indicated that maternal effects should be accounted for in estimation of genetic parameters of ultrasound scanning traits in Kivircik lambs, and SBFT can be used as a selection criterion to improve BFT.