Estimation of the Cumulative Power of Discrimination in Haimen Chicken Populations with Ten Microsatellite Markers

To estimate the cumulative power of discrimination (CPD) existing within Haimen chicken populations in China, we isolated a total of 252 genomic DNAs from four chicken populations (Rugao, Jiangchun, Wan-Nan and Cshiqishi) through a saturated salt procedure. All the genomic DNAs were used in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with ten microsatellite markers. Amplified PCR-products with the selected markers were separated on a 12% polyacrylamide gel with pBR322DNA/MspI used as internal standard marker. Genetic diversity indices including mean allele number among loci, unbiased heterozygosity ($h_i$) within locus, effective number of alleles ($N_e$) and polymorphism information content (PIC) as well as the unbiased average heterozygosity (H) among loci in the populations were calculated using the generated allele frequencies by each marker. The mean allele number for all loci ranged between 4.00${\pm}$0.33 (Rugao) to 4.90${\pm}$0.48 (Cshiqishi) and across populations for all loci was 4.60${\pm}$0.20, while (H) ranged from 0.65${\pm}$0.03 (Rugao) to 0.69${\pm}$0.03 (Jiangchun) among loci and across populations, (H) was 0.67${\pm}$0.01. The generated unbiased average heterozygosity among loci in each population was integrated to the global formula of CPD and the result demonstrated that the CPD within the four Haimen chicken populations was 98.75%.