Microsatellite polymorphism and genetic relationship in dog breeds in Korea

Microsatellite polymorphism and their genetic relationships were estimated using genotype information of 183 dogs from 11 microsatellite loci. The breeds include the indigenous Korean breeds Jindo dog (30), Poongsan dog (20) and Miryang dog (44) together with Chihauhau dog (31) and German Shepherd dog (58). Jindo dogs showed the highest expected heterozygosity (0.796±0.030) and polymorphic information contents (0.755) in all populations. The phylogenetic analysis showed the existence of two distinct clusters supported by high bootstrap values: the Korean native dogs and other dogs. They clearly show that Poongsan dog and Miryang dog are closely related to each other when compared with Jindo dog. Microsatellite polymorphism data was shown to be useful for estimating the genetic relationship between Korean native dogs and other dog breeds, and also can be applied for parentage testing in those dog breeds.