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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.)

Background: Cattle are considered to be the most desirable livestock by small scale farmers. In Africa, although comprehensive genomic studies have been carried out on cattle, the genetic variations in indigenous cattle from Nigeria have not been fully explored. In this study, genome-wide analysis based on genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) of 193 Nigerian cattle was used to reveal new insights on the history of West African cattle and their adaptation to the tropical African environment, particularly in sub-Saharan region.  RESULTS: The GBS data were evaluated against whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data and high rate of variant concordance between the two platforms was evident with high correlated genetic distance matrices genotyped by both methods suggestive of the reliability of GBS applicability in population genetics. The genetic structure of Nigerian cattle was observed to be homogenous and unique from other African cattle populations. Selection analysis for the genomic regions harboring imprints of adaptation revealed genes associated with immune responses, growth and reproduction, efficiency of feeds utilization, and heat tolerance. Our findings depict potential convergent adaptation between African cattle, dogs and humans with adaptive genes SPRY2 and ITGB1BP1 possibly involved in common physiological activities., Conclusion: The study presents unique genetic patterns of Nigerian cattle which provide new insights on the history of cattle in West Africa based on their population structure and the possibility of parallel adaptation between African cattle, dogs and humans in Africa which require further investigations., (© 2022. The Author(s).)