Genetic diversity of six populations of red hybrid tilapia, using microsatellites genetic markers

Objective. To determine and evaluate the genetic diversity of six populations of red hybrid tilapia, with the purpose to assess the potential benefit of a future breeding program conducted at the Research Center for Aquaculture (Ceniacua), Colombia. Material and methods. A total of 300 individuals, representing a wide genetic variability, were genotyped using a fluorescent microsatellite marker set of 5 gene-based SSRs in 6 different farms belonging to 4 States of Colombia. Results. The result showed that the mean number of alleles per locus per population was 8.367. The population 5 had the highest mean number of alleles with 9.6 alleles, followed by population 4 with 9.4 alleles, population 2 with 9.2, population 3 with 8.0, population 1 with 7.2 and population 6 with 6.8 alleles. The analysis of the distribution of genetic variation was (17.32%) among population, while among individuals within populations was (28.55%) and within individuals was high (54.12%). The standard diversity indices showed that population 4 was the more variable (mean He=0.837) followed by population 1 (mean He=0.728), population 3 (mean He=0.721), population 5 (mean He=0.705), population 2 (mean He=0.690), population 6 (mean He=0.586). Highly significant deviations from Hardy?Weinberg, exhibited all of the populations, mostly due to deficits of heterozygotes. Genotype frequencies at loci UNH 106 of population 5 and loci UNH 172 of population 6 were Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). Conclusions. The results of this study, contribute to the genetic breeding program of Tilapia, conduced by the Research Center for Aquaculture. The Fst distance showed that the samples are differentiated genetically and it is possible to use at the beginning of the genetic program. However, it is recommended to introduce others individuals to the crossbreeding program.