Y chromosome-specific markers have been widely used in studying the origin, migration, diversity, and population relationship in several mammalian species. So far, the investigations on yak paternal genetics were mostly based on Y-SNPs information, but very few on Y-STR markers. In this study, we comprehensively investigated the polymorphism of Y-STR locus, identified the geographical distribution pattern of its alleles in 15 Chinese domestic yak breeds/populations, and provided basic data for yak paternal genetic analysis. Our results showed that is an intermediate polymorphic Y-STR marker with six alleles present among 15 Chinese domestic yak breeds/populations and that the variation among six alleles was due to different numbers of repetitions of a TG dinucleotide motif.
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