Análisis genético de la raza ovina aranesa con marcadores microsatélite

Abstract

The conservation program of the Aranesa sheep breed, which is carried out by the Departament d"Agricultura, Ramaderia i Pesca of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, started in the 2004. Within this program, we analysed the genetic diversity of the breed using 13 microsatellite markers. We genotyped 170 animals belonging to 12 localities around the Val d"Aran region. The obtained values of heterozygosity were high (Ho= 0.684±0.046; He= 0.740±0.031). The deficit of heterozygotes (approximated inbreeding estimation), obtained for the entire breed was approximately 7% (FIT= 0.071±0.038). These results suggest that, the Aranesa sheep breed still conserves relatively high levels of genetic variability and, as a whole, it shows low consanguinity, although its endangered status.