Abstract

The species Capoeta aculeata (Valenciennes, 1844) is one of the most important freshwater species endemics to Iran. However, the investigation of a population genetic structure of this species is limited by the low number of molecular markers currently described. In this study, we implemented next generation sequencing technology to identify polymorphic microsatellite markers and investigate the population genetic structure of C. aculeata sampled from three geographical sites in Iran. We sequenced 60 individuals from three populations occurring in the Zagros basin. We characterized and developed 36 novel polymorphic microsatellite markers and these loci were examined in 120 individuals from three populations occurring in the Zagros basin. The average number of alleles per locus varied from 1.7 to 16. (average=7.89). The results showed that, the polymorphism information content (PIC) of these SSR loci varied from 0.254 to 0.888. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) per locus ranged from 0.170 to 0.881, while the expected heterozygosity (He) per locus was from 0.170 to 0.881. Among these SSR loci, 20 loci deviated significantly from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction (p<0.05). These microsatellite markers could provide a valuable tool for future population and conservation genetics studies of C. aculeate populations and other closely related species.

Keywords: Capoeta aculeate, Microsatellite markers, Next generation sequencing (NGS), Genetic structure