Implications for the conservation of genetic diversity in mohair goats from a comparison of a relic island population with breeds farmed in Australia

Abstract

The genetic relationships between an abandoned population of mohair-style, fibre-producing goats from the remote semi-arid Faure Island, Western Australia and 3 modern breeds of Angora goats (Australian, southern African and Texan) were investigated. Faure Island goats originated from stock introduced in the 1890s, reputedly from South Africa. Farmed Faure goats were abandoned on the island about 1918, but their fine mohair fleece has since generated commercial interest within the Australian mohair industry. Nineteen microsatellite loci were used to compare Nei’s genetic distance between and variation within the breeds. Faure Island goats are more similar to southern African and Texan Angoras than to Australian Angoras. Genetic variability was lower in Australian Angoras than in Faure Island, southern African and Texan Angoras (lowest proportion of polymorphic loci, mean heterozygosity and mean number of alleles). Current Faure Island mohair-style goats are more closely related to modern southern African Angora goats than to traditional Australian Angora goats, while the reduced variability in the latter may have resulted from inbreeding. These results have implications for the genetic improvement of fibre-producing goats and for the conservation of genetic material from island populations of goats.