Data from: Genetic structure of Omani goats reveals admixture among populations from geographically proximal sites

The genetic diversity of most global goat populations has been assessed in recent decades using nuclear markers but remains unstudied in the south Arabian Peninsula, particularly in Sultanate of Oman, despite the importance of these animals for the local economy and food supply. Therefore, the present study provides a comparative analysis of the genetic diversity of five native Omani goat populations and evaluates possible admixture rates with the four most frequently imported goat populations from geographically proximal countries. Quality control of 15 loci was conducted and molecular characterization of nine populations was performed with 11 microsatellite markers. Accordingly, a data set based on 11 high informative microsatellites loci genotypes from nine populations was used to estimate the population genetic parameters. The summary statistics for the parameters depicted relatively highly diverse populations (Ho = 0.667, He = 0.663) with relatively low and mostly non-significant levels of inbreeding (FIS). Furthermore, the population substructure estimators (AMOVA) and population differentiation coefficient (FST) were indicated weak genetic differentiation among populations (P < 0.001).A finer analysis of the population substructure and differentiation using STRUCTURE, discriminant analyses of principal components (DAPCs) and a neighbor-joining (NJ) tree were supported a scenario that a high level of gene flow between populations from close geographical locations are the main evolutionary driving force. Thus, any future conservation strategy and breeding programs should include to preserve unique alleles that might be contributing to with stand the limited feed and requirement in desert ecosystems as well as economic traits