DNA fingerprinting characterization of 4 Italian poultry species

Aim of this study was to characterize four Italian local poultry species (chicken, duck, turkey and guinea fowl) using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. AFLP molecular markers, have been an important tool to enrich existing genetic maps in plants, bacteria and less widely in animal genomes. Genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood and AFLP analysis was carried out according to the protocol described in Barcaccia et al.1999. Three primer combinations have been used to analyse all the samples and allowed the identification of a particular DNA fingerprinting pattern for each species that permits a clear distinction among them. A cluster analysis of the neutral and biallelic AFLP markers was performed within each species and it was possible to distinguish the different breeds. Genetic similarities of all possible pairs of genotypes within species were estimated using a Jaccard index. Results of this study were an important step to know the genetic distances among the local poultry breeds and to define a preliminary genetic traceability system of products of these local poultry species and breeds.