APPLICATION OF THE MICROSATELLITE TECHNIQUE FOR ANALYZING GENETIC DIVERSITY IN SHRIMP BREEDING PROGRAMS

The microsatellite technique was employed to demonstrate the use of ge netic markers as a genetic analysis tool to manage breeding programs o f cultured species. This technique was used on a total of 312 P. vanna mei shrimp from Population 1 (Sinaloa, Mexico), Population 2 (Ecuador) , Population 3 (hybrid of Population 1 x Population 2), Population 4 ( Oaxaca, Mexico), a Guatemalan stock, and wild female broodstock from S alinas, Ecuador. Microsatellite 1, M1, was used to determine the allel ic inheritance within 14 families from two populations and two groups from the Guatemalan stock. All of the offspring were shown to be genet ic descendants of their presumed parents. All families showed Mendelia n inheritance. A total of 47 different alleles were found at the M1 lo cus. The number of different alleles for each population ranged from f our in Population 2 to 23 alleles in Population 4. Observed heterozygo sities ranged from 45% to 100%. There were 23 population-specific mark ers, two of which were observed only in single families from Populatio n 1. Microsatellite markers are useful for informing animal breeders o f genetic diversity levels in populations of interest before implement ing a breeding program. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.