Mitochondrial DNA diversity of Korean native goats

Abstract

Korean native goats have lived on the Korean peninsula for more than 2,000 years and are regarded as a valuable genetic resource for the world. As an initial step to investigate the genetic structures of this breed, phylogenetic analysis and calculation of genetic diversities have been performed using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variations. A total of 19 Korean native goats were grouped into six haplotypes and the large majority of haplotypes were present in 13 animals. All mtDNA of these Korean goats belonged to the mitochondrial (mt) lineage A and revealed remarkably small genetic distances within the population when compared with other Asian goat populations, indicating less genetic variation in the Korean native goats. These results indicate high-inbred status of the Korean native goats and will influence breeding and conservation strategies adopted for this breed.