Molecular Characterization of Hallikar Breed of Cattle Using Microsatellite Markers

Molecular characterization of Hallikar, the native cattle breed of Karnataka, was undertaken using 19 cattle specific, highly polymorphic microsatellite markers recommended by FAO. The genomic DNA was subjected to PCR amplification and alleles were resolved through six per cent denaturing PAGE with a 10 bp DNA ladder followed by silver staining. Genotyping of animals was done based on allele size. The number of alleles ranged from three to nine with allele sizes ranging from 102 bp to 294 bp. These alleles were distributed in the frequency range between 0.0306 and 0.8673 in the population. The mean observed number of alleles was $6.368{\pm}1.4225$. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities were $0.7515{\pm}0.1734$ and $0.7850{\pm}0.1381$, respectively. The high heterozygosity observed implies presence of higher genetic variability within Hallikar breed. The PIC (Polymorphism Information Content) values ranged from 0.2322 (ETH152) to 0.8654 (ETH225). The percentage of polymorphic loci obtained was 100 as all the 19 microsatellite markers were found to be polymorphic. Except for ETH152, all the other loci had high PIC values, indicating that these markers are highly informative for characterization of Hallikar breed. The population was tested for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at 19 microsatellite loci, and at 74 per cent of the loci the population was found to be in disequilibrium.