Exploration of the phylogenetic background and haplotype diversity of the lowland polled racka sheep as a genetic inclusion species based on the control region

Background: Racka sheep have been part of the Hungarian animal husbandry and ethnographic culture for centuries. The Lowland Polled Racka is a preserved, but critically endangered variant of this breed -group. Objectives: The aim of the authors is to include the Lowland Polled Racka in the genetic evaluation of Hungarian native sheep, to assess its maternal genetic diversity, and to present its phylogenetics using gene bank control sequences. Materials and Methods: A total of 29 individuals from 2 flocks were sampled in 2019. This meant a 50% coverage of the whole pool. Investigations were performed based on the total sequence (1179 bp) of control region (CR) of the mtDNA. Results and Discussion: The number of haplotypes in the total study population was 11, unexpectedly large. However, there was no overlap in their distribution between farms. These haplotypes largely represented the haplogroup B, which is mainly characteristic of the European region, but the haplogroup A also appeared, typical for the Indian subcontinent. Low nucleotide diversity(Tr = 12.91 * 10-3) and medium haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.783) confirm the bottle -neck effect on the life of that breed -variant. The significant (p = 0.013) positive value (4.955) for Fu's Fs is evidence for a deficiency of alleles, which also indicates a narrowing of genetic diversity throughout the population history. On the one hand, in order to ensure the success of gene conservation, it is advisable to select hoggets based on their haplotypes. On the other hand, it is recommended to increase the number of haplotype lineages with few representatives as soon as possible.