Genetic Relationships of Some Native Chicken Breeds in the Northern Tohoku District of Japan

Abstract

Three native breeds of chickens, Hinai-dori, Koeyoshi and Kinpa, have been maintained in the northern Tohoku district of Japan. Although their origin and history are not known clearly, it is postulated that they have some relationships with Shamo, Koshamo and Tomaru. This study was done to analyze the genetic relationships of these six breeds.
Seven polymorphic loci, blood group A-E, B, D and G, plasma esterase Es-1, and plasma alkaline phosphatase Akp and Akp-2 were examined. At the B locus a number of alleles were found in each breed and the number of phenotypes observed within a breed varied 9 to 36. Gene frequencies were considerably different among the breeds. In Hinai-doris, Kinpas and Tomarus the frequency of B^G was high, whereas B^ILTX was predominant in Koshamos and Kinpas. At the A-E locus the A^R was predominant in all breeds tested. There were found no special features in gene frequencies at the D and G blood group loci.
At the plasma esterase Es-1 locus the frequency of Es-1^B was high in all of the breeds. The Es-1^C was found only in Shamos, Koshamos and Tomarus and was predominant in Koshamos. The frequency of akp for the slow alkaline phospatase band was high, ranging from 0.95 to 1.00. At the Akp-2 locus gene frequencies were different among the breeds.
The genetic distances among the breeds were estimated and the relationships were shown by a dendrogram. The nearest relationship was found between the Hinai-dori and Kinpa. The distances between the Shamo and other breeds were generally close, whereas the Koshamo showed distant relationships with other breeds.