Genetic Analysis of Scleropages formosus Golden Asian Arowana Using Microsatellite DNA

Abstract

Asian arowana (Scleropages formosus) is a highly endangered fish species listed in Appendix 1 of CITES since1980.In order to explore the population genetic structure of golden Asian arowanas Scleropages formosus from the breeding population, of 26 fish sampled were genotyped at twenty microsatellite loci. The average allele number of 14 polymorphic microsatellites was 2.94 loci. The average observed heterozygosity was 0.446 ranging from 0.143 to 1.00, and the gene diversity was quite high (0.78).All these data suggest that middle level of genetic diversity existed in the golden Asian arowana population. Data showed the population somewhat departed from HWE, such as excessive and deficient heterozygote numbers.AMOVA analysis offered evidence of a weak genetic differentiation with 0.51% variation between samples.