Genetic and Phylogenetic Analysis of Cytochrome b region in Wild Sheep of Buruieh Wildlife Refuge

Wild sheep is belonging to Bovidae family and genus ovis which living in the most regions of Iran. There are many challenges between researchers about Wild Sheep species taxonomy. This study aims to investigate genetic and phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome b region of ovis orientalis's mtDNA in the Buruieh wildlife refuge in order to determine the correct taxonomy. With this regard, 17 samples of ovis orientalis stool and tissue were collected from Buruieh Wildlife Refuge in Khatam Township. After DNA extraction 1140, 741, 765 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b was amplified with primers Cytb F-Cytb R, Cytb F- Cytbin R and Cytb R-Cytbin F under polymerase chain reaction. Amplified fragments were sequenced by ABI 3130 automated device with Sanger method. The results were compared with sequences from other studies to determine the genetic distances. Hoplotype variations were not observed in the nucleotide sequences obtained in this study. Using the Neighbor-Joining phylogenetic test results showed that the Buruieh Wildlife Refuge wild sheep is placed in the group of ovis orientalis and is different from other ovis orientalis populations all around Iran in the terms of Hoplotype. Our results demonstrated that the Buruieh Refuge Wildlife Sheeps have low genetic diversity which should be considered at the long-time managment activities in the future.