Genetic diversity analysis of Egyptian native chickens using mtDNA D-loop region

Abstract

This study was aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity of Egyptian native chickens by using mtDNA sequence polymorphism. A 546-bp fragment of the mtDNA D-loop region was sequenced for a total of 36 Egyptian native chickens with 14 reference sequences from DNA databank. Of the Egyptian chickens 5 haplotypes were identified. Haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity of the Egyptian native chickens were 0.5635±0.0845 and 0.00123±0.00108, respectively. The Egyptian native chickens were distributed within one clade, which were closed to the haplotypes from Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Most of Egyptian native chickens were classified into the haplotype E1, which contains 63.9% of individuals followed by E4 (16.6%), E5 (11.1%), E2 (5.5%) and E3 (2.7%), respectively. These findings indicate that the maternal lineages was involved in the origin of domestic chicken in Egypt may have roots in Indian subcontinent and other Southeast Asia. The genetic information from this study will probably pave the way to further studies for evaluation, preservation and improvement of Egyptian native chickens as genetic resources in the future.