Estimating Genetic Diversity of Silver (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix Val.) and Bighead (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis Rich.) Carps Grown in Aquaculture in the Republic of Belarus Based on Polymorphism of Microsatellite Loci

Abstract

In this work, the genetic diversity of silver (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix Val.) and bighead (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis Rich.) carps bred on the territory of the Republic of Belarus was estimated according to genotyping of 11 STR loci (Hmo11, Hmo13, Hmo15, Hmo25, Hmo26, Hmo31, Hmo33, Hmo34, Hmo36, Hmo37, Hmo40). The following indices were calculated: average number of alleles per locus, effective number of alleles, levels of expected and observed heterozygosity, Shannon’s information index value, and F_IS fixation index. The results obtained indicate a moderate (for bighead carp) and sufficiently high (for silver carp) genetic diversity of the studied samples, up to the possibility to allocate several groups for subsequent work on obtaining linear material and further reproduction. To achieve these goals, special attention should be paid to the selection of pairs of producers taking into account the results of molecular-genetic analysis. The estimation of genetic diversity of these species of herbivorous fishes bred in the Republic of Belarus as compared with the results of other studies indicates a significant genetic resource of domestic producers.