Preliminary genetic variability analysis of the native Garfagnina goats based on microsatellite polymorphism

For the development of an appropriate programme for conservation of animal genetic resources, genetic typifying is considered an important preliminary step. In this paper, we have done a preliminary genetic variability analysis of 48 adult Garfagnina goats belonging to a single flock of Tuscany using 12 STR markers (MAF065, SRCRSP05, INRA023, McM527, CSRD247, SRCRSP23, OarFCB20, TGLA53, INRA005, INRA063, ETH10, ILSTS87) some of which belonged to a markers panel validated by the International Society of Animal Genetics (ISAG) and others routinely used by the facilities of the Laboratorio di Genetica e Servizi (Associazione Italiana Allevatori, Migliaro, Italy). Garfagnina is an Italian native goat breed registered on the Tuscan regional repertory of genetic resources at risk of extinction and have a total of about 745 animals belonging to 17 flocks. Garfagnina breed is important for livestock biodiversity preservation, being a key animal for specialized cheese market in the Tuscan region. For each marker the following parameters were computed: number of alleles, effective allele size, observed heterozygosity and polymorphism information content (PIC). Allelic frequencies were estimated by direct counting. To analyze the genetic variability of the population, the following parameters were computed at population level: molecular co-ancestry coefficients (fij), kinship distance (Dk), and inbreeding coefficient (Fi). Moreover, genetic similarities (GS) among all animals were investigated using the Individual Multilocus Genotype. The number of alleles ranged from 3 to 9 (mean 5.92) whereas the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.48 to 0.83 (mean 0.69). There was a high genetic similarity within the whole population (0.43) showing the great homogeneity of the sampled animals, as confirmed also by the small kinship distance (0.34). However inbreeding coefficient was low (0.32). The results of this research indicate that, despite the fact that animals are considered to belong to the same breeding, the genetic variability of this Garfagnina goat population is acceptable for a population with a reduced numerical value.