Cattle provide a wide range of products and services to humans; thus the significance of conservation of livestock genetic resources is evident. We analyzed the genetic variability of five Y-chromosomal microsatellites in 395 bulls representing six cattle breeds (Polish Red, Polish Whitebacks, Polish Red-and-White, Polish Black-and-White, Polish Holstein Friesian, and Simmental). | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2015) 39: 611-617 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Y chromosome genetic diversity and breed relationships in native Polish cattle assessed by microsatellite markers 1, 2 1 3 Beata PRUSAK *, Wioletta SAWICKA-ZUGAJ , Agnieszka KORWIN-KOSSAKOWSKA , Tomasz GRZYBOWSKI Department of Animal Immunogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, Poland 2 Faculty of Biology and Animal Breeding, University of Life Sciences, Lublin, Poland 3 Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum, Institute of Forensic Medicine, The Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland 1 Received: Accepted/Published Online: Printed: Abstract: Cattle provide a wide range of products and services to humans; thus the significance of conservation of livestock genetic resources is evident. We analyzed the genetic variability of five Y-chromosomal microsatellites in 395 bulls representing six cattle breeds (Polish Red, Polish Whitebacks, Polish Red-and-White, Polish Black-and-White, Polish Holstein Friesian, and Simmental). We identified three haplotypes in the paternal gene pool of analyzed populations. Haplotype diversity was low and frequencies ranged from to 100%. In Polish autochthonous breeds (Polish Red, Polish Whitebacks), we detected two and three haplotypes. The network analysis revealed that tested bulls of both breeds were distributed in two clearly separated haplogroups. The dominant frequency in the Polish breeds had the haplotype also prevalent in the majority of European cattle. Only three Whitebacks carried a haplotype not identified until now in any international cattle breed. We showed that partitioning of genetic variation among breeds can be mainly explained by their assignment to past improvement crossings and reflected the low male effective population size. Our findings point also to a great .
