Genetic Diversity of Chinese Shar-pei Dog Using Microsatellite DNA Markers

Ninety two blood samples of Chinese Shar-pei (CSP) dog, including 21 bone-mouth type, 29 bone-meat-mouth type and 42 meat-mouth type, were analysed by using 20 microsatellite loci. The results showed that a total of 272 alleles were found, averaging 13.6 alleles per locus. The allele frequencies of each type of CSP dog were calculated, showing some genetic differentiation among the three types of CSP. The average heterozygosity of the whole populaiton was 0.8259, and the polymorphism information content (PIC) of the whole CSP populaiton was between 0.5352 and 0.9226, indicating that the microsatellite loci are highly polymorphic. The dendrogram constructed from genetic distance showed that there was some divergence between the three CSP dog populations, which would support the theoretical basis for further subclassificaion to solve the disorganized situation of this breed and provide scientific guidance for better protectioin of this breed.