Comparative Study of the Phenotypic and Molecular Genetic Diversity of “Tergui” Camel Population in the Hoggar Region (South Algeria)

Abstract

In the framework of the sustainable management of the genetic diversity (morphometric and molecular) of the “Tergui” camel population represented by the phenotypes (Abahou, Amelal, Alemlagh, Atelagh, and Azerghaf), surveys in the Hoggar area of 87 individuals from 11 localities were conducted in order to estimate the variability of the inter-intra-population. The morphological results provide full information about the structure of this population and demonstrate an important polymorphism. The results of the genotyping of the DNA with 20 microsatellite markers made it possible to demonstrate inter- and intra-population genetic variability characterized by a high rate of heterozygosity (Hnb) and effective alleles. The rate of heterozygosity in our phenotypes varied from 0.56 to 0.63, which is higher than that observed in foreign populations ranging from 0.537 to 0.629. A total of 169 alleles of 20 microsatellite loci were detected. The mean number of alleles per locus was 7.15, 6.15, 3.10, 4.45, and 3.25 for Abahou, Amelal, Alemlagh, Atelagh, and Azerghaf, respectively. The loci evaluation showed higher PIC values greater than 0.5, which are considered very instructive. The heterozygous values observed for all the loci analyzed were lower than expected, which could be attributed to inbreeding in the population or subdivision of the studied population into distinct breeds and phenotypes. On the other hand, the number of observed alleles is higher and has shown a frequency that exceeds 7.3%. The genetic differentiation values between the phenotypes analyzed were much lower and the level of differences accounted for 1.1% of the total genetic variation. All loci contributed to this differentiation with FST values being moderately low and similar but very significant (p < 0.001). The overall FST value was similar but slightly higher than that of 0.9%. The genetic similarity between the phenotypes and the classification methods (AFC and DACP) gave results similar to the phenotypic characteristics, and showed that they appear to be genetically very similar, thereby supporting the decision to consider them only mildly differentiated.

Keywords

• dromedary
• genetic characterization
• genetic variability
• microsatellite
• <i>Camelus dromedarius</i>
• Tamanrasset