Abstract
Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker was employed to assess the genetic variation and phylogenetic relationship among three rabbit breeds viz. New Zealand White, Californian and Flander reared in Egypt. Initially, a total of 20 random primers of arbitrary sequence were used but 14 of them generated reproducible, scoreable and polymorphic bands. Out of 120 bands scored using these primers, 39 (33%) were recognized as polymorphic and 81 (67%) as monomorphic bands. The highest percentage of polymorphic bands was recognized for primers OPA-10 and OPA-06 (56%) while the lowest percentage of polymorphic bands was recognized for primers OPE-19 (7%) and OPF-12 (14%). The band sharing frequencies (BSF) was found higher between New Zealand White-Californian (0.88+/-0.029), followed by Californian-Flander (0.87+/-0.024) and New Zealand White-Flander (0.84+/-0.034). Overall, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in BSF values between breeds. The highest genetic distance was found between New Zealand White-Flander (5.568) followed by Californian-Flander (5.000) and New Zealand White-Californian (4.690). One primer (OPE-11) in New Zealand White, three primers (OPA-10, OPC-02, OPF-09) in Californian, five primers (OPA-01, OPA-06, OPA-10, OPB-14, OPF-09) in Flander were found to be specific for these breeds. The study suggests that RAPD can be successfully utilized for detecting genetic variation among the studied rabbit breeds.