Genetic characterization of the Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle breed using microsatellite markers and relationship with three other French cattle populations.

Yves Amigues (1) , Simon Boitard (2) , Christine Bertrand (3) , Magali San Cristobal (2) , Dominique Rocha (4)

1 LABOGENA - Laboratoire d'Analyse Génétique pour les Espèces Animales
2 LGC - Laboratoire de Génétique Cellulaire
3 CTIG - Centre de Traitement de l'Information Génétique
4 UMR GMA - Unité de Génétique Moléculaire Animale

This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity of Blonde d'Aquitaine, a well-muscled native French beef breed, and to understand the relationships between Blonde d'Aquitaine, Limousin and Salers. We also compared these three beef breeds to the Holstein dairy breed. For this purpose, a set of 16 microsatellite markers were investigated. The obtained results show that Blonde d'Aquitaine has a high level of genetic diversity. Our study shows also that the French beef breeds have genetic differentiation among them, with approximately 9% of the total variation owing to breed differences. Our results show also that Blonde d'Aquitaine and Salers populations are genetically more similar to each other than to the Limousin.

Mots clés: polymorphism; beef; genetic diversity

Mots clés: microsatellite; blonde d'aquitaine

Domaines: Génétique animale; Génétique des populations [q-bio.PE]

Yves Amigues, Simon Boitard, Christine Bertrand, Magali San Cristobal, Dominique Rocha. Genetic characterization of the Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle breed using microsatellite markers and relationship with three other French cattle populations.. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics, 2011, 128 (3), pp.201-8. ⟨10.1111/j.1439-0388.2010.00890.x⟩. ⟨hal-00842536⟩