Determination of genetic diversity by mtDNA D-loop and Cytochrome Gene regions of water buffalo reared in Turkey

This study aimed to reveal the genetic diversity among the sub-population of Turkey's water buffalo population (Bubalus bubalis) and relationship between the distiribution of polymorphic variants and geographical regions with respect to mtDNA D-loop and cyto-b gene regions. Experimental material of genetic characterization were consisted of 197 blood samples obtained from 16 provinces of 6 geographical regions of Turkey. According to the results of the mtDNA D loop gene region, the highest haplotype variance observed was H = 0.934 (± 0.024) in Central Anatolian populations, while the lowest haplotype diversity was 0.910 (± 0.036) in Eastern / South Eastern Anatolian populations. When the results of nucleotide diversity according to gene regions were evaluated, it was observed that the highest value was 0.00908 (± 0.00073) in the population of Marmara / Aegean region and 0.00634 (± 0.0073) in the Black Sea region populations. When all the result are evaluated together, the D-loop region showed more higher mutation of the gene regions comparing with cyto-b region and it's concluded that d-loop gene region have more potential informatic content in Turkey's water buffalo population. The maternal inheritance of water buffalo populations had shown that there were two distinct mitochondrial lineages in Turkey.