Parentage assignment in striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) based on microsatellite markers

Abstract

In this study, five microsatellite markers from two multiplex PCR sets were used to determine the pedigree of five striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) families that came from a breeding program in Vietnam. The number of alleles per locus and polymorphic information content (PIC) were 4 to 7 and 0.551-0.803, respectively. In the parentage analysis based on five microsatellites, 62.7% of offspring could be allocated unambiguously to their parental pairs using the perfect mismatch setting, and assignment rate improved to 89.3% after a single mismatch was allowed. Parentage analysis when only four microsatellites were used (a locus with a high frequency of null alleles was excluded) increased the assignment rate to 68% for a perfect mismatch and to 90% for assignment with a single mismatch. Results here confirm that a DNA marker-based approach to parentage assignment in P. hypophthalmus will be useful in genetic improvement programs for this important aquaculture species in Vietnam.