A Review on Population Structure, Genetic Diversity Analysis, Genetic Distance between Population and Genetic Singularity in Livestock

Abstract

This review was undertaken to clarify importance of genetic diversity and genetic distance of domestic livestock species in the future. Importance of farm animal genetic resources is very diverse, particularly for the poor and under smallholder production systems in the developing world. Uses include subsistence consumption of livestock products, manure, traction, savings, risk management, capital accumulation and socio-cultural functions. The present domestic animal diversity as represented in the multitude of our livestock breeds is the result of thousands of generations of rural communities manipulating their livestock populations according to the requirements of their environment, their subsistence needs and cultural concepts. Genetic characterization has recently been the method of describing and classifying livestock breeds/populations using measures of genetic distances between populations. Genetic markers like microsatellites, and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and recently the whole genome are tools used for characterizing genetic diversity between and within populations.. Hence, SNP is more preferable to other markers for developing countries due to its simplicity, ability to differentiate variations, useful to identify genes of economically important traits and it is cheap.

Keywords: Genetic marker, SNP, Genetic Diversity Analysis, Genetic Distance