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[en] Full text: Iranian livestock diversity is still largely unexplored, in spite of the interest in the populations historically reared in this country located near the Fertile Crescent, a major livestock domestication centre. In this investigation, the genetic diversity and differentiation of 10 Iranian indigenous fat-tailed sheep breeds were investigated using 18 microsatellite markers. Iranian breeds were found to host a high level of diversity. This conclusion is substantiated by the large number of alleles observed across loci (average 13.83, range 7–22) and by the high within-breed expected heterozygosity (average 0.75, range 0.72–0.76). Iranian sheep have a low level of genetic differentiation, as indicated by the analysis of molecular variance, which allocated a very small proportion (1.67%) of total variation to the between-population component, and by the small fixation index (FST = 0.02). Both Bayesian clustering and principal coordinates analysis revealed the absence of a detectable genetic structure. Also, no isolation by distance was observed through comparison of genetic and geographical distances. In spite of high within-breed variation, signatures of inbreeding were detected by the FIS indices, which were positive in all and statistically significant in three breeds. Possible factors explaining the patterns observed, such as considerable gene flow and inbreeding probably due to anthropogenic activities in the light of population management and conservation programmes are discussed. (author)

[en] Landscape genomics is an emerging research field that bridges genetics and genomics to geo-environmental resources analysis. It aims to study genome/environment interaction to discover the genetic basis of adaptation by processing of many simultaneous DNA-environment association models, exploiting GIS (Geographical Information Systems) science and statistical methods. In this paper, we review the literature related to the recent history of this discipline, describing its application to livestock genetics, discussing its potential contribution to Farm Animal Genetic Resources (FAnGR) conservation and management, explaining its role in the analysis of the local adaptation of autochtonous breeds and showing how the upcoming next-next generation of DNA sequencing methods, in parallel with the availability of an increasing number of high quality environmental data sets, will allow a real take-off of this novel approach. (author)

No abstract available