Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Pentro horse: genetic characterization by microsatellite markers

2003; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 2; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4081/ijas.2003.223

1828-051X

Arianna Bruzzone, Daniela Iamartino, M. Blasi, Fabio Pilla,

Veterinary Equine Medical Research

The Pentro horse population is an autochthonous breed from a breeding area characterized by climatic and geographic peculiarities. The horse population is interesting because of its rusticity, however, has run the risk of loosing its identity because of the introduction of exotic genetic material. This study presents data of the genetic characterization by means of microsatellite markers. A total of 12 microsatellite loci were used to score 147 individuals among those with the Pentro phenotype, as well as 16 individuals representing the variable part of the population. Allele frequencies were calculated for each locus, with the mean number of alleles (Nall = 6.7) and the expected heterozygosity (He = 0.724). The mean observed heterozygosity was 0.695. The obtained data were used to compare the genetic structure of the Pentro horse to six other Italian breeds. The N-J tree computed on individual genetic distances showed that 93% of Pentro horses clustered together.