Comparative F statistics analysis of the genetic structure of ten Spanish dog breeds.

The genetic structure and relationships among 10 Spanish dog breeds have been studied by using F statistics. Data came from 21 structural genic loci that codify for blood-soluble proteins and enzymes detected by electrophoresis. Of the 21 loci, 11 were found to be polymorphic. The study was done at three levels of hierarchical differentiation: ancestral trunks, breeds, and subpopulations. The deficit of heterozygotes was estimated at the subpopulation, breed, and ancestral trunk levels, with values of 4.0%, 6.5%, and 11.2%, respectively. In the whole population, the deficit of heterozygotes was about 17%. The proportion of genetic variability attributable to differences between subpopulations, breeds, and ancestral trunks was estimated to be 14.2%, 9.9%, and 6.9%, respectively. The dendrogram, obtained by using values of genic differentiation (FST) as a measure of the genetic distance among populations, is topologically identical to the one obtained using Nei's index of distance, which indicates a high correlation (r = .99) between both distances. These racial groupings, however, differ from the grouping obtained from historical, archeological, and morphological data.