Population Genetic Background and Maternal Origin of Jiangcheng Cattle

Purpose To clarify the genetic background information of Jiangcheng cattle population.

Methods Direct sequencing of PCR products was used to detect sequence variations in the mtDNA D-loop region of 59 Jiangcheng cattle individuals, and genetic comparison analysis of the population was performed in combination with the data of the same segment of mtDNA in published Yunnan indigenous cattle breeds, including Wenshan cattle (53 individuals), Dehong humped cattle (34 individuals), Zhaotong cattle (32 individuals), and Diqing cattle (49 individuals).

Results The Jiangcheng cattle population exhibited a haplotype diversity of 0.666±0.070 and a nucleotide diversity of 0.020 22±0.004 19, with an intrapopulation genetic distance of 0.022±0.005. A total of 39 polymorphic sites were detected in Jiangcheng cattle sequences, defining 17 haplotypes. Among these, haplotypes H01-H11 originated from zebu ancestry, while haplotypes H12-H17 originated from taurine cattle ancestry. The proportions of zebu and taurine cattle mtDNA lineages in Jiangcheng cattle were 83.05% and 16.95%, respectively. Specifically, the zebu lineages I1 and I2 accounted for 79.66% and 3.39%, respectively; while the taurine lineages T3 and T4 accounted for 15.25% and 1.70%, respectively. Interpopulation genetic analysis revealed that Jiangcheng cattle was most closely related genetically to Dehong humped cattle and most distantly related to Diqing cattle.

Conclusion The genetic diversity of Jiangcheng cattle is relatively low, and there is a certain genetic difference with other indigenous Yunnan cattle breeds. Their genetic composition reflects a mixed maternal origin involving both zebu and taurine cattle, with a predominant influence from zebu.