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The domestic Muscovy duck ( Cairina moschata ) provide unique genetic resources patterned by both tropical environmental conditions and human activities, the evaluation of their genetic diversity and population structure will shade light on the mechanism of their remarkable adaptive capacities. We therefore analyzed the variation in mtDNA cytochrome b and nuclear DNA CYP2U1 sequences of 378 Nigerian Muscovy ducks (comprising of 287 de novo and 91 downloaded) plus 80 published sequences of Muscovy ducks from India. The results showed high haplotype diversity (0.800 ± 0.023) among Nigerian Muscovy duck populations with 91 distinct haplotypes for the nuclear DNA CYP2U1 gene but low (0.266 ± 0.033) for cytochrome b with 31 haplotypes. The median-joining networks of both markers grouped Nigerian Muscovy ducks into two; the first group consisting of only Nigerian Muscovy duck populations, and the second group Nigerian with Indian populations. Neutrality test results indicated that Nigerian populations experienced recent population expansion and/or genetic hitchhiking. A geographic signal was absent in line with previously studied poultry species in Nigeria. The most prominent haplotype dominated across all regions in Nigeria, which may be due to extensive genetic intermixing except for the Indian population ( F ST = 0.02550, P = 0.01075). This indicated low genetic differentiation between and within Nigerian Muscovy duck as revealed by the suitability of the nuclear DNA CYP2U1 gene., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 Adeola et al.)

The African cattle provide unique genetic resources shaped up by both diverse tropical environmental conditions and human activities, the assessment of their genetic diversity will shade light on the mechanism of their remarkable adaptive capacities. We therefore analyzed the genetic diversity of cattle samples from Nigeria using both maternal and paternal DNA markers. Nigerian cattle can be assigned to 80 haplotypes based on the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop sequences and haplotype diversity was 0.985 + 0.005. The network showed two major matrilineal clustering: the dominant cluster constituting the Nigerian cattle together with other African cattle while the other clustered Eurasian cattle. Paternal analysis indicates only zebu haplogroup in Nigerian cattle with high genetic diversity 1.000 ± 0.016 compared to other cattle. There was no signal of maternal genetic structure in Nigerian cattle population, which may suggest an extensive genetic intermixing within the country. The absence of Bos indicus maternal signal in Nigerian cattle is attributable to vulnerability bottleneck of mtDNA lineages and concordance with the view of male zebu genetic introgression in African cattle. Our study shades light on the current genetic diversity in Nigerian cattle and population history in West Africa., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2021 Mauki et al.)