Phylogenetic analysis and comparison between cow and buffalo (including Egyptian buffaloes) mitochondrial displacement-loop regions.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis has been used extensively for phylogenetic analysis studies and systematics. The displacement loop (D-loop) region inside the mtDNA is a non-coding part whose analysis can indicate variations between closely related populations. This paper reports for the first time the characterization and analysis of the complete sequence of the D-loop region from Egyptian buffaloes and analysis in conjunction with previously published Indian and European Bubalus bubalis and Bos sub-tribe sequences. In the entire D-loop of the Egyptian buffaloes, we identified four haplotypes and nine polymorphic sites from the nine sequenced D-loop regions--while in the studied set of buffaloes we identified 28 polymorphic sites in the entire D-loop, and 49 polymorphic sites in the case of cows. Alignment between buffaloes and cows to evaluate the characteristics of the D-loop region showed that the second region of the conserved sequence block (CSB2) is apparently the most variable region in the D-loop between cows and buffaloes, with four insertions in all buffaloes and two substitutions, followed by the second region of the extended termination associated sequence (ETAS2) with a substitution rate of 1/10. The Egyptian buffaloes were shown to be closest to the Italian counterparts, exemplifying the closeness of ethnicity and the history of civilization of that region.