The London strain of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was created by int
erbreeding three other strains of rainbow trout and therefore was expected
to have higher levels of genetic variation than other strains of rainbow tr
out. We examined 129 London strain rainbow trout from Indiana by allozyme e
lectrophoresis to assess levels of genetic variation and to examine the rel
ationship between the London strain and other hatchery strains. When using
the same loci to compare with other hatchery strains the London strain show
ed levels of genetic variation within the range of other hatchery strains:
mean heterozygosity of 0.053 (0.031-0.099), 1.27 (1.20-1.60) alleles per lo
cus and 20.0% (20.0-40.0%) of the loci were polymorphic. The London strain
is somewhat distinct from other hatchery strains (D = 0.009-0.072), in part
because of the high frequency of the sIDHP*40 allele.