Genetic diversity and population structure of muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) from Nigeria

PeerJ. 2022 Apr 15:10:e13236. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13236. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The domestic Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) provide unique genetic resources patterned by both tropical environmental conditions and human activities, the evaluation of their genetic diversity and population structure will shade light on the mechanism of their remarkable adaptive capacities. We therefore analyzed the variation in mtDNA cytochrome b and nuclear DNA CYP2U1 sequences of 378 Nigerian Muscovy ducks (comprising of 287 de novo and 91 downloaded) plus 80 published sequences of Muscovy ducks from India. The results showed high haplotype diversity (0.800 ± 0.023) among Nigerian Muscovy duck populations with 91 distinct haplotypes for the nuclear DNA CYP2U1 gene but low (0.266 ± 0.033) for cytochrome b with 31 haplotypes. The median-joining networks of both markers grouped Nigerian Muscovy ducks into two; the first group consisting of only Nigerian Muscovy duck populations, and the second group Nigerian with Indian populations. Neutrality test results indicated that Nigerian populations experienced recent population expansion and/or genetic hitchhiking. A geographic signal was absent in line with previously studied poultry species in Nigeria. The most prominent haplotype dominated across all regions in Nigeria, which may be due to extensive genetic intermixing except for the Indian population (F ST = 0.02550, P = 0.01075). This indicated low genetic differentiation between and within Nigerian Muscovy duck as revealed by the suitability of the nuclear DNA CYP2U1 gene.

Keywords: CYP2U1; Cytochrome b; Genetic diversity; Nigerian Muscovy duck; Population structure.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cytochrome P450 Family 2 / genetics
  • Cytochromes b* / genetics
  • Ducks* / genetics
  • Genetic Variation / genetics
  • India
  • Nigeria

Substances

  • Cytochrome P450 Family 2
  • Cytochromes b

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SAJC202103), the Animal Branch of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (the Large Research Infrastructure Funding). The Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative provided support to Adeniyi C. Adeola (2021FYB0006). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.