Relationships between Panamanians and some creole cattle landraces in Latin America

Abstract

The objective of this work was to establish the genetic relationship between Guabalá and Guaymi cattle populations and some native ones of Latin America. Factorial correspondence analysis, analysis of molecular variance, genetic distances, average number of migrants per population and Wright’s F statistics were performed. Population structure was assessed by a Bayesian model, assuming an unknown number of K genetically distinct groups. The correspondence analysis showed that the populations of Guabalá and Guaymí cluster with Mexican creole cattle and Texas Longhorn. Lower genetic differentiation of Panamanian creole with Mexican and Texas Longhorn was also observed. The analyses of genetic distances have also shown similar results to those obtained by Amova and by the factorial correspondence analysis, and the less distance was observed between north populations and Panamanian ones, in comparison with southern populations. Bayesian clustering permitted the assignment of individuals to their respective groups, based on their genetic similarity, and provided information on the number of cluster from which they originate. There is a close historical, genetic, and geographic relationship of Panamanian, Mexican, and Texas Longhorn populations due to the migration of precursors from the Caribbean islands to Panama and Mexico.