The polymorphism of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop of 83 individuals from nine Chinese indigenous sheep breeds and two imported sheep breeds was studied with five endonucleases, Hinf I, Msp I, Sau3A I, Xsp I and Taq I, using PCR-RFLP. The results indicated that there existed two basic haplotypes in the region of mtDNA D-loop. It could be inferred that Chinese indigenous sheep breeds originated from two maternal ancestors. The average polymorphic degree (π value = 0.0421%) of mtDNA D-loop showed that the genetic diversity of mtDNA of Chinese indigenous sheep breeds was very low.
