Genetic Characterization of Two Iranian Turkoman Horse Populations from Turkoman Sahra and Turkoman Jergelan Regions

This study compares diversity patterns of five microsatellite (SSR) markers in two Iranian native horse populations (Turkoman sahra and Turkoman Jergelan) to infer relationships between them and to compare levels of their polymorphism for use in conservation efforts. Two populations across microsatellite loci had significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Average number of alleles were 3.6 and 4 in Turkoman Jergelan and Turkoman sahra, respectively, varying from 3 (HMS1) in Turkoman Jergelan to 6 (ASB2) in Turkoman sahra. AHT4 locus was monomorph in two populations. Average observed and expected heterozygosity was 0.366 and 0.668 for Turkoman Jergelan and 0.316 and 0.685 for Turkoman sahra, respectively. The lower observed rather than expected heterozygosity confirms high inbreeding level in two populations. Estimates of Nei’s Genetic distance showed a low distance (0.0647) between two populations which may be caused by their common ancestor, genetic substructures and gene flow occurrence in Raz and Turkeman sahra regions.