Abstract :
Five Peruvian alpaca populations from South Peru (San Juan de Tarucani, Estación Pillones
and Chalhuanca from Arequipa Region and Palca and Lampa from Puno Region) were analysed
at 20 microsatellite markers in order to estimate the genetic diversity. The association
between the microsatellite genotypes and the fiber diameter traits was also examined in
the alpacas of first shearing. A total of 230 alleles were observed from 272 DNA samples
across the five populations. Gene diversity for each population ranged from 0.749 to 0.712
in Chalhuanca and Lampa populations respectively being the most diverse in the alpaca
populations San Juan de Tarucani and Chalhuanca. The overall FIS value (0.15) was moderate
and different from zero, the significant deficit of heterozygotes occurred in seven out
of twenty surveyed loci within sampled alpacas. Considering the individual populations,
the lowest heterozygote deficit was observed in Palca (0.123). The global FST value among
the five alpaca populations were 0.02, San Juan de Tarucani and Palca were the least differentiated
populations at the genetic level (0.012) and the highest level gene flow (Nm) of
19.66.
The correspondence analysis, the genetic differentiation and the phylogenetic tree exhibited
the same pattern of clustering, although the results of the phylogenetic relationships
are not in accordance with the geographical location. This non-geographical sharing of
the gene pools may be related to trading of male alpacas from the Lampa Province to the
Chalhuanca and San Juan de Tarucani localities. The ANOVA showed that there were no
significant differences in fiber diameter among the five populations with an overall mean
of 18.96 m. The DUNCAN test showed in the total population the association between
the fiber diameter and the alleles of the CVRL07, LGU68 and LCA65 microsatellite loci.
Although to discard the spurious origin of this higher sample size relationship; number of
microsatellite loci should be screened in further studies.
