Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Addis Ababa P.O. Box 2003, Ethiopia.
Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO), University of Porto, 4485-661 Vairao, Portugal.
Genes (Basel). 2021 Jan 25;12(2):155. doi: 10.3390/genes12020155.
Matrilineal genetic diversity and relationship were investigated among eight morphologically identified native Ethiopian horse populations using polymorphisms in 46 mtDNA D-loop sequences (454 base pairs). The horse populations identified were Abyssinian, Bale, Borana, Horro, Kafa, Kundido feral horses, Ogaden and Selale. Mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequences were characterized by 15 variable sites that defined five different haplotypes. All genetic diversity estimates, including Reynolds' linearized genetic distance, genetic differentiation () and nucleotide sequence divergence (), revealed a low genetic differentiation in native Ethiopian horse populations. However, Kundido feral and Borana domestic horses were slightly diverged from the rest of the Ethiopian horse populations. We also tried to shed some light on the matrilineal genetic root of native Ethiopian horses from a network constructed by combining newly generated haplotypes and reference haplotypes deposited in the GenBank for Eurasian type Turkish Anatolian horses that were used as a genetic conduit between Eurasian and African horse populations. Ninety-two haplotypes were generated from the combined Ethio-Eurasian mtDNA D-loop sequences. A network reconstructed from the combined haplotypes using Median-Joining algorithm showed that haplotypes generated from native Ethiopian horses formed separate clusters. The present result encourages further investigation of the genetic origin of native African horses by retrieving additional mtDNA sequences deposited in the GenBank for African and Eurasian type horses.
利用 46 个 mtDNA D 环序列（454 个碱基对）的多态性，研究了 8 个形态学上确定的埃塞俄比亚本地马种群的母系遗传多样性和关系。确定的马种群为阿比西尼亚马、巴莱马、博拉纳马、霍罗马、卡法马、昆迪多野马、奥加登马和塞拉莱马。线粒体 DNA D 环序列的特点是 15 个可变位点，定义了 5 种不同的单倍型。所有遗传多样性估计值，包括雷诺兹线性遗传距离、遗传分化（）和核苷酸序列分歧（），都表明埃塞俄比亚本地马种群的遗传分化程度较低。然而，昆迪多野马和博拉纳家马与埃塞俄比亚其他马种群略有分化。我们还试图从一个网络中揭示埃塞俄比亚本地马的母系遗传根源，该网络是通过结合新生成的单倍型和在 GenBank 中为欧亚型土耳其安纳托利亚马保存的参考单倍型构建的，欧亚型土耳其安纳托利亚马被用作欧亚和非洲马种群之间的遗传渠道。从埃塞俄比亚欧亚 mtDNA D 环序列的组合中生成了 92 个单倍型。使用中位数连接算法从组合单倍型重建的网络显示，从埃塞俄比亚本地马生成的单倍型形成了单独的聚类。本研究结果鼓励通过检索保存在 GenBank 中的非洲和欧亚型马的额外 mtDNA 序列，进一步研究非洲本地马的遗传起源。
