Genetic characterization of turkish donkey (Equus asinus) populations

Under the influence of industrialization in Turkey and in the world, the donkey breeds (Equus asinus), that have been assisting the breeders for centuries, have been threatened under extinction as a labor force in herd control and transportation under difficult natural conditions in rural areas. This situation is expected to continue rapidly if a protection program has not been established. In order to constitute protection strategies, both morphologic and genetic characterization of existing races should be performed. Therefore, in this thesis, the gene and genotype frequencies of donkey populations, which are found important within the scope of the genetic resources of our country, were calculated and the data were used to contribute to the conservation of native animal gene resources. The blood samples from 314 individuals were collected from 16 provinces in Turkey and genomic DNAs were isolated. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) was performed in 20 microsatellite loci and DNA fragment analysis were performed. The allele ranges (bp) of every sample were determined. A total of 174 alleles were detected in 20 microsatellites, ASB17 locus has been found monomorphic and the highest number of alleles was found in LEX54 locus (17 alleles). The mean number of alleles (Na) per locus was calculated as 5.153 ± 0.145. In addition, when the genetic distance data were evaluated, it was determined that the highest genetic distance value (0.146) was found between Tekirdağ-Malkara province and Şanlıurfa province. The lowest genetic distance value (0.026) was determined among the population of Kırklareli and İstanbul-Çatalca provinces. The genetic diversity of populations was found 97% within the populations and 3% between the populations. By using Nei's genetic distance data, the Neighbor-Joining method which was used to construct the phylogenetic trees have shown that all the studied populations were clustered in two different groups; Kütahya, Isparta, Amasya-Merzifon, Tekirdağ-Malkara, Kastamonu, Tokat, Konya, Antalya, Aydın, and Muğla populations were found in the same cluster wheras Kahramanmaraş, Mardin, Şanlıurfa, Kars, Kırklareli, and İstanbul-Çatalca populations were clustered in the other cluster.