[Screening and polymorphism of Y chromosome microsatellite markers in swamp buffalo]

To understand the genetic diversity of buffalo Y chromosome, 14 microsatellite markers specific for cattle Y chromosomes were used to analyze 31 male buffaloes of three populations (i.e., HH, BN, and PR) originating from southeastern Yunnan Province, P. R. China. The aim of this study was to examine the practicability of cattle Y chromosome-specific microsatellite markers in studying genetic diversity of buffalo Y chromosome. Three markers (INRA008, UMN0103, and UMN0504) produced single allele, and three (UMN1113, UMN0304, and BC1.2) produced three alleles. But these markers were all monomorphic. Another three markers (UMN0920, UMN0307, and UMN3008) amplified irregular ladder-like bands. These markers were not suitable for investigating the swamp buffalo Y chromosome genetic diversity. The remaining five microsatellites (INRA124, INRA189, BM861, PBR1F1, and UMN2001) were polymorphic, which can be used to study the swamp buffalo Y chromosome genetic diversity. The mean number of alleles (Na), expected heterozygosity (He), genetic diversity (GD), polymorphism information content (PIC), and Shannon's information index (SI) across these five polymorphic loci in the buffalo population samples studied were 2.8000, 0.3998, 0.4144, 0.3245, and 0.5849, respectively, demonstrating a moderate degree of polymorphism in the Y chromosome of the buffalo population.