Genetic diversity and origin of the feral horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

ABSTRACT: Feral horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) represent an iconic era of the North Dakota Badlands. Their uncertain history raises management questions regarding origins, genetic diversity, and long-term genetic viability. Hair samples with follicles were collected from 196 horses in the Park and used to sequence the control region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and to profile 12 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) markers. Three mtDNA haplotypes found in the TRNP horses belonged to haplogroups L and B. The control region variation was low with haplotype diversity of 0.5271, nucleotide diversity of 0.0077 and mean pairwise difference of 2.93. We sequenced one mitochondrial genome from each haplotype determined by the control region. Two complete mtDNA sequences of haplogroup L were

SUBMITTER: Ovchinnikov IV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6070244 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature