Genetic characterization of the Mascaruna goat, a Sicilian autochthonous population, using molecular markers

The aim of this work was to characterize a Sicilian autochthonous goat population using microsatellitemarkers and genetic polymorphisms at the casein genes. In order to investigate the genetic structure ofthe Mascaruna goat, a total of 60 (20 Girgentana, 20 mixed populations, and 20 Mascaruna) individualswere analyzed, using a panel of 18 microsatellite markers. Moreover, the Mascaruna goats weregenotyped at casein loci using several molecular techniques. Based on the genetic structure at caseingenes, the Mascaruna goat was similar to most goat breeds from the Mediterranean area, which arecharacterized by the predominance of strong alleles. The low value of genetic differentiation amongpopulations (Fst=0.027) could indicate that these populations were differentiated little probably due togene flow and breeding practices. The analysis of genetic distances between groups indicated that theMascaruna goat was the most distanced group, and this result was confirmed by the unrootedneighbor-joining dendrogram, the factorial correspondence analysis, the presence of several privatealleles and the Bayesian assignment test. However, the Mascaruna group, despite the influences fromother populations, presents a certain degree of uniqueness and could be considered as a populationwith particular genetic background.