Genetic Diversity of Mitochondrial DNA of Chinese Black-bone Chicken

ABSTRACT The black-bone chicken has special economic value in Chinese poultry breeds, which also are valued for the medicinal properties of their meat in traditional Chinese medicine. In order to protect the genetic resources of native black-bone chicken breeds, we analyzed the genetic diversity and matrilineal components of 64 mtDNA D-loop partial sequences from three native black-bone chicken breeds, together with reported 596 black-bone chicken mtDNA sequences from China, Japan, and Korea. A total of 108 haplotypes were observed from 73 variable sites. These domestic chicken mtDNA sequences could be assigned into seven clades (A-G). The results indicated that 71.97% of the black-bone haplotypes were related to the reference sequence that may originate from Eurasia, while the minor part of mtDNA sequences presumably derive from Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Three clades were shared by Korean, Japanese, and Chinese black-bone chickens. These results provide basic data useful for making new breeding and conservation strategies for the black-bone chicken in China.