2003/09/01 by Teruaki Tozaki · 10 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Genetic diversity and population structure #Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/jhered/esg079
openalex publication_date 2003/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The genetic relationships of seven Japanese and four mainland-Asian horse populations, as well as two European horse populations, were estimated using data for 20 microsatellite loci. Mongolian horses showed the highest average heterozygosities (0.75-0.77) in all populations. Phylogenetic analysis showed the existence of three distinct clusters supported by high bootstrap values: the European cluster (Anglo-Arab and thoroughbreds), the Hokkaido-Kiso cluster, and the Mongolian cluster. The relationships of these clusters were consistent with their geographical distributions. Basing our assumptions on the phylogenetic tree and the genetic variation of horse populations, we suggest that Japanese horses originated from Mongolian horses migrating through the Korean Peninsula. The genetic relationship of Japanese horses corresponded to their geographical distribution. Microsatellite polymorphism data were shown to be useful for estimating the genetic relationships between Japanese horses and Asian horses.