Evaluation of genetic diversity in Mecheri sheep (Ovis aries) of Tamil Nadu using microsatellite markers

Evaluation of genetic variation was carried out using microsatellite markers in 48 Mecheri sheep of Tamil Nadu as a part of genetic characterisation and conservation. The number of observed alleles ranged from 3 to 8 with a mean of 5 across all loci. The size of alleles ranged from 74 to 224 bp. The frequency of alleles ranged from 0.0208 to 0.6250. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values varied from 0.52 to 0.79 with a mean of 0.66. The population was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The overall mean expected heterozygosity was 0.71. The inbreeding estimate within-population was 0.004, indicating excess of heterozygotes in the population of Mecheri sheep. The panel of microsatellites used was highly informative for molecular characterisation and could be used for exploitation of genetic diversity of the related breeds for conservation.