Genetic variability among native dog breeds in Turkey

In this study, the genetic structures and relationships of native Turkish dog breeds were investigated using 20 polymorphic loci (17 microsatellites and 3 proteins). For this aim, a total of 141 blood samples were taken from Turkish shepherd dogs and Turkish Greyhounds located in several geographical regions of Turkey. Multilocus F-ST values indicated that around 1.92% of the total genetic variation could be explained by breed differences and the remaining 98.08% by differences among individuals. The gene flow between populations within each generation varied between 8.4 (Akbash-White Kars Shepherd dog pairs) and 62.3 (Black-Grey Kars Shepherd dog pairs). Four different groups appeared in the 3-dimensional factorial correspondence analysis, and among these, dogs from the Akbash, Kangal, Kars Shepherd, and Turkish Greyhound breeds grouped in clearly separated clusters in distant parts of the 3-dimensional graph. These results clearly show that Akbash and Kangal Shepherd dogs are different populations with different genetic structures. Therefore, the generalised grouping of Turkish shepherd dogs into a single breed called Anatolian or Turkish shepherd dogs is incorrect.