Study of microsatellites in the Russian breeds of turkey

Currently, in the total volume of poultry meat production turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ) meat takes the second place in the world. According to the analytical agency (Global Reach Consulting, Russia), this segment has grown more than 8 times over the last 10 years. Positive dynamics is also observed in Russia, i.e. a 34.9 % increase has been achieved in 2015, mainly due to the use of modern genetic approaches and highly efficient technologies. The high competition in the market of the world’s poultry genetic material defines the importance of monitoring its origin and genetic consolidation. It is known that one of the most informative methods for studying genetic biodiversity of different species in animals and birds is the analysis of microsatellite loci. The estimation in microsatellite loci in turkey breeds and commercial lines, bred in USA, Turkey, Hungary and other countries has allowed us to establish genetic profiles of breeds, their differentiation, similarities and differences. However, till now the study of microsatellite polymorphism in the Russian breeds of turkeys was not conducted. The aim of this work was to study polymorphism and genetic differentiation on microsatellite loci of turkeys' breeds of the Russian selection. The work was carried out at the North Caucasian Zonal Experimental Station for Poultry Breeding using the turkey breeds of the Russian selection maintained in the Breeding and Genetic Center of North Caucasian Zonal Experimental Station for Poultry Breeding. MLVA (multiple locus variable, number tandem repeats analysis) genotyping was performed on 12 VNTR loci (MNT9-MNT20). Blood samples were taken from turkeys of seven breeds: broad-breasted White ( n = 12), North Caucasian Bronze ( n = 12), North Caucasian White ( n = 9), North Caucasian Silvery ( n =15), Moscow White ( n = 12), Tikhoretskaya Black ( n = 10), Uzbek Buff ( n = 8). DNA was isolated using guanidine thiocyanate. The quality of DNA samples was determined spectrophotometrically. The detection of PCR amplification products was carried out by the presence of specific bands on the electrophoregram in the agarose gel. To quantify the discriminating ability of the typing method, we used the Hunter-Gaston index. For grouping, the pairwise unweighted clustering with arithmetic averaging (UPGMA) was performed, the dendrogram was constructed using a computer program START-2. It is established that 3 loci (MNT11, MNT15, MNT17) of 12 investigated VNTR loci were monomorphic, and 6 loci (MNT9, MNT10, MNT12, MNT14, MNT19 and MNT20) had two alleles each. For MNT16, 3 alleles were revealed, and only MNT13 and MNT18 produced 4 alleles each. Twenty one of 26 identified alleles have not been previously described or deposited in specialized international databases that specifies in originality of the investigated Russian turkey breeds. Phylogenetic analysis of genetic distances allowed us to allocate two unequal clusters - I and II. The cluster I is formed by a part of broad-breasted White genotypes and from all genotypes of Uzbek Buff breed. The cluster II is formed by two large C and D groups: C group is formed by genotypes of North Caucasian Bronze, North Caucasian White and broad-breasted White breeds, and D group is formed by genotypes of Tikhoretskaya Black, North Caucasian Silvery and Moscow White breeds. Features of genetic differentiation in turkey breeds of the Russian selection are due to their history and the participation of the gene pool of sertain breeds in creation of others. Allelic variants identified by us in the investigated loci for the first time allow further researches on genetic differentiation of turkey breeds of the Russian and foreign selection.