2001 The American Genetic Association 92:398–403 Genetic Variability in East Asian Dogs Using Microsatellite Loci Analysis

An analysis of eight microsatellite loci in 213 animals was performed to define the genetic structure and variability of 11 East Asian native dog populations. Allele diversity, observed heterozygosities, expected heterozygosities, F-statistics, GST estimates, number of migrants per generation (Nm), and Nei’s DA distance were calculated. Expected mean heterozygosities of Asian native dogs varied within a range of 0.310–0.718 with a mean value of 0.580. In a sample of 11 Asian dogs, the highest genetic diversity was exhibited in the Korean native dogs and the lowest in the Shiba, the Japanese native dog. All populations except the Kishu and Akita showed statistically significant deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium at more than one locus. After corrections for multiple significance tests, deviations over all loci were statistically significant in 7 of 11 dog populations, meaning that Asian dogs are genetically subdivided (global FST 0.154). Despite the locus-specific deviations, statistically significant departures from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium reflect deviations in the direction of heterozygote deficit, the global FIS being 0.072. In the neighbor-joining and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mea