Mitochondrial D-loop Variations for Discrimination of Commercial Korean Native Chicken Populations

Abstract

The increasing demand for Korean native chicken meat indicates that the discovery of haplotypes is very important from both economic and conservation points of view. In this study, mtDNA D-loop sequences from two crossbred Korean native chicken populations of 138 individuals were investigated. Twenty six nucleotide substitutions were identified from sequence analysis and were classified into 12 haplotypes. The haplotype H_8 represents 73.47% of Woorimatdag (chicken population) sequences, which were identified in all five Woorimatdag chicken populations investigated. The H_7 haplotype (Dhap1) for D population covers 45% sequences, which indicate maternal inheritance from black Korean native chicken. On the other hand, Chap3 and Chap4 for C population are specific haplotypes, as H_5 and H_2, respectively. Based on the network profiles, six SNPs (C199T, A239G, G242A, A291G, T330C and C391A) of the D-loop region are effective markers for discrimination between Woorimatdag and Hanhyup chicken populations. Also, the phylogenetic analyses of Woorimatdag and Hanhyup chicken populations were used to identify the genetic relationships among the haplotypes. The results presented here can be used for developing molecular markers to discriminate between two commercial Korean native chickens.