Genetic Diversity of Wild Quail in China Ascertained with Microsatellite DNA Markers

G. B. Chang, H. Chang, X. P. Liu, W. M. Zhao, D. J. Ji, Y. J. Mao, G. M. Song, X. K. Shi
2007 Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences  
Collection and extraction of genomic DNA About 400 wild quail samples were captured from two abundant areas where wild quails migrated to and settled down. One was the Weishan Lake region, and the other was the Anyang district, Henan Province. One milliliter blood ABSTRACT : The genetic diversity of domestic quail and two wild quail species, Japanese Coturnix coturnix and Common quail (Coturnix japonica), found in China was studied using microsatellite DNA markers. According to a comparison of
more » ... he corresponding genetic indices in the three quail populations, such as Polymorphism Information Content (PIC), Mean Heterozygosity ( H ) and Fixation Index, wild Common quail possessed rich genetic diversity with 4.67 alleles per site. Its values for PIC and H were the highest, 0.5732 and 0.6621, respectively. Domestic quail had the lowest values, 0.5467 and 0.5933, respectively. Wild Japanese quail had little difference in genetic diversity from domestic quail. In addition, from analyses of the fuzzy cluster based on standard genetic distance, the similarity relationship matrix coefficient between wild Japanese quail and domestic quail was 0.937, and that between wild Common quail and domestic quail was 0.783. All of these results showed that the wild Japanese quail were closer to the domestic quail for phylogenetic relationship than wild Common quail. These results at the molecular level provide useful data about quail's genetic background and further supported the hypothesis that the domestic quail originated from the wild Japanese quail. (
doi:10.5713/ajas.2007.1783 fatcat:vrh2txaajjd2flz27u4iptbtka