Local spatial autocorrelation map of ovine proteins in Europe

Local spatial autocorrelation (SA) is used to analyse six blood protein polymorphisms: haemoglobin, albumin, esterase A, carbonic anhydrase, protein-X and transferrin from 26 European ovine populations. Local SA is a useful technique for exploring the distribution of ovine allele frequencies and identifying hotspots (localities with positive local SA) and coldspots (negative local SA). The local SA map of joint analysis reveals that there are areas of significant protein heterogeneity in Europe.