ORIGIN, DIVERSITY AND HSP70 GENE FUNCTIONAL POLYMORPHISM OF THE HELMETED GUINEA FOWL IN KENYA

Abstract

Despite the importance of helmeted Guinea fowls, little is known about their origin and genetic background.
This  study  aimed  to  understand  t he  genet ic  background  of  helmeted  Guinea  fowls  in  Kenya through  the  characterizat ion  of  t heir  morphological  t rait s,  analysis  of  the  mitochondrial DNA  D - loop  and  identification  of  polymorphisms  in  the  HSP70  gene  associated  with  drought/heat tolerance. Ninety (90) Guinea fowls randomly selected from four domestic populations (70 individuals) and a wild population (20 individuals) sampled from Bungoma, Busia and Laikipia counties in Kenya were scored for primary  phenotypic  characteristics  (shank  length,  body  length,  wing  length,  helmet  width,  helmet  height, head size, live body weight, wattle colour, skin colour and shank colour). DNA  was also  extracted  from  blood collected from the 90 individuals.  The phenotypic data  collected were analyzed  and the  descriptive  statistics obtained  compared  as  percentages,  continuous  bar  graphs  and  tables  using  Excel  version  2013  and  R  Core version 3.1.2. Two wattle colour variations were identified, red and blue. Skin colours were grey and white
while shank colours were black, pink and grey.  The wild population showed the highest mean values for the quantitative  traits  measured  except  live  body  weight  and  head  size.  The  populations  of  Kenyan  helmeted Guinea  fowls  showed  a  possible  limited  heterogeneity  in  the  qualitative  traits  considered.  There  was  a possible  positive  (0.333)  and  significant  (p<0.05)  correlation  between  body  temperature  of  the  birds  and outside  temperature.  The  first  700bp  of  the  mtDNA  D-loop  and  first  600bp  of  HSP70  were  amplified,
sequenced and edited. The 25 mitochondrial DNA  haplotypes identified will be compared to  those  observed in  other parts of  Africa  to determine origin and diversity.  The SNPs in HSP70 discovered will also be compared
with reference sequences from Genbank  to identify polymorphisms associated with drought/heat tolerance. These findings present a genetic pool from which decisions on sustainable use and conservation of helmeted Guinea fowls could be made. This would help farmers, breeders and conservationists  to genetically improve domestic helmeted Guinea fowls and also improve their survival in the wild.

Key words: agro-ecological zones, climatic change, morphological traits, Numida meleagris, population