Assessment of genetic diversity of azari buffalos using microsatellites markers

Considering the importance of maintaining the diversity in native breeds and identification of genetic resources of the country, the genetic diversity in Azari buffaloes was evaluated using ten microsatellite markers (BoLA-DRB3, BM1818,BM1824,CSSM033,CSSM047,ILSTS017,ILSTS033,ILSTS058,ILSTS061andILSTS089). Hair samples were taken from 70 Azari buffaloes from three regions of the northwest of Iran including Ardabil, East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan provinces. Genomic DNA was extracted from the hair samples by the modified salting-out method and for DNA amplification the polymerase chain reactions for all primers were optimized. The results indicated that, in Azari buffalo population, all microsatellites loci were highly polymorphic, and they were deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P<0.001) with an exception for BoLA-DRB3 locus. The average observed and expected allelic numbers were 5.9 and 4.72, respectively. The observed and expected heterozygosity, Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) and Shannon Index were 0.87, 0.75, 0.71 and 1.57, respectively. In conclusion, the genetic variation in Azeri buffalo population is quite high and reliable.