[Screening of peafowl microsatellite primers and analysis of genetic diversity]

The applicability of chicken microsatellite primers to peafowl population was analyzed in the present paper, and the results showed 14 of 29 pairs of microsatellite primers from chicken could amplify peafowl DNA and produce specific allele patterns. A mean of 1.71 alleles was found for each locus. Seven pairs were highly polymorphic, and MCW0080 and MCW0098 were ideal markers for peafowl. Genetic diversity analysis within and between the green peafowl and the blue peafowl populations demonstrated that the expected heterozygosity of two peafowl populations were 0.2482 and 0.2744, respectively. The inbreeding index (FST), Reynolds' genetic distance and gene flow between the two populations were 0.078, 0.0603 and 3.896 respectively. These results indicate that the heterozygosity and the genetic diversity of these two peafowl populations were very low, and suggest a tendency towards intermixing.