Variations of structural loci among 4 sheep populations in China were examined by the method of multiloci electrophoresis, and similar data from 11 sheep populations were taken as basic references to analyze the genetic structure of the native sheep populations in East and South Asia. The results showed that the average heterozygosity and effective number of alleles among 15 populations were 0.2746 and 1.559, respectively. Mongolian sheep possessed the largest average heterozygosity and effective number of alleles. Genetic diversity of sheep populations in Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Nepal was reduced in this order. The coefficients of genetic differentiation were between 0.0126 and 0.3083, with the average of 0.148, demonstrating that genetic variations lay mainly in populations with 85.2% of the total variations. There exists no correlation between geographical distances and genetic distances. Gene flow was smooth among most populations, which led to inconsistency between geographical distances and genetic distances. The 15 native sheep populations in East and South Asia could be divided into two groups： One group included part populations of China and Mongolia, and the other included Yunnan populations of China, and part populations of Nepal and Bangladesh. Other populations did not cluster together and divide into the above-mentioned two groups. Tills study indicated genetic differentiation of the 15 native sheep populations in East and South Asia was relatively low, geographical isolation was not the main reason affecting genetic differentiation, and the fifteen sheep populations could be divided into two groups according to phylogenetic relationships.
GENG Rong-qingCHANG HongWANG Lan-pingYANG Zhang-pingSUN WeiJI De-junTsunodak K
Using the method of ＂random sampling in typical colonies of the central area of the habitat＂ and several electrophoresis techniques, the variations of 17 structural loci encoding blood proteins in 60 Small-Tailed Han sheep and 73 Tan sheep were examined and compared with those of 14 other sheep populations in China and other countries to investigate their levels of genetic differentiation. The average heterozygosities of Small-Tailed Han sheep and Tan sheep were 0.2360 and 0.2587, respectively. The average polymorphic information content values were 0.1974 and 0.2102, respectively. The average effective numbers of alleles were 1.5723 and 1.5751, respectively. The coefficients of gene differentiation in the four groups （including 4, 6, 13, and 16 sheep populations, respectively） were 0.049323, 0.059987, 0.1728, and 0.201256, respectively, indicating that the degree of gene differentiation at the structural loci was the least in Hu sheep, Tong sheep, Small-Tailed Hart sheep, and Tan sheep; followed by the above-mentioned four sheep populations and two Mongolian sheep populations; and was the highest in sheep populations belonging to the Mongolian sheep group, South Asian sheep, and European sheep. The earlier researchers＇ conclusions that both Small-Tailed Han sheep and Tan sheep evolved from Mongolian sheep were further verified by the results of this study. Hu sheep, Tong sheep, Small-Tailed Han sheep, and Tan sheep were decreasingly affected by the bloodline of Mongolian sheep to different degrees. The relationships among sheep populations were not closely related to the geographical distances among sheep populations.
LU Sheng-xiaCHANG HongJI De-junTsunoda KenjiREN Zhan-junREN Xiang-lianSUN WeiYANG Zhang-pingCHANG Guo-bin
