Polymorphism of microsatellite loci and parentage identification in some Italian dog breeds

Canine microsatellites are powerful tools for parentage verification to increase the value of pedigrees and to give selective criteria in dog breeding. The ENCI (Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana) only recently has started to test dogs in our laboratory to resolve doubtful breeding cases; the interest in a correct litter's registration in stud books is growing up. In the present study we investigated the variability of ten canine microsatellites loci (AHT121, CXX20-123-263-403-2159-2137-2138-2001-2132) in ten Italian pure breeds (Bergamasco, Bolognese, Bracco Italiano, Cirneco dell'Etna, Corso, Fonnese, Lagotto, Maremma sheepdog, Segugio Italiano, Spinone Italiano, Volpino Italiano). All the samples have been collected from animals unrelated in two generations. DNA extracted from blood or buccal swabs was PCR amplified and labeled fragments were electrophoresed on ABI 377 automated sequencer. The differences in the observed allele frequencies between the breeds and the Polymorphism Information Content were examined and evaluated for each population and for each locus. We investigated also the most polymorphic microsatellite markers for parentage control and we calculated the cumulative exclusion probabilities for all the breeds and for all the analysed loci. In addition the obtained allele frequencies were used to estimate the genetic distances for all the considered breeds. Analysis of exclusion power (PE), ranging from 98,50% and 99,93%, using the most informative markers, demonstrates, the microsatellite efficiency and their potential use in stud book registrations of Italian pure breeds.