Assessment of DNA fingerprinting for determining genetic diversity in sheep populations

Abstract
Genomic DNA, prepared from 12 animals from four sheep flocks, was digested with either HaeIII or Hin fI and probed with three DNA fingerprinting probes. Mean DNA fingerprint band sharing and band frequency calculated for each flock were used to estimate genetic diversity. Each of the DNA fingerprinting systems showed the same trend in diversity within the sampled flocks, and greater diversity between the flocks than within the flocks. DNA fingerprinting therefore provides a useful measure of genetic diversity in sheep.