ANALYSIS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN ARABIAN CARPET SHARK CHILOSCYLLIUM ARABICUM FROM THE SAUDI WATERS OF THE ARABIAN GULF

Estimation of genetic diversity of threatened species constitutes a prerequisite for conservation. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis was applied to investigate genetic diversity in three populations of Arabian carpet shark, Chiloscyllium arabicum from Saudi water in the Arabian Gulf. Overall, seventeen selected ISSR primers produced 154 bands, with 96 (62.34%) being polymorphic through 90 samples belonging to three populations that were amplified. 58.20%, 53.10 % and 50.32 % of these loci were polymorphic over all the genotype examined in Al-Jubail, Al-Qatif and Al-Odaid populations, respectively. The average number generated per primer for band and polymorphic band was 9.05 and 5.64, respectively. The measurement of genetic diversity between populations has been estimated by the overall genetic differentiation (Gst) 0.223, and the gene flow (Nm) 1.13. In addition, analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that genetic variation within population and among populations was 79% and 21 %, respectively. The dendrogram linked Al-Qatif and Al-Odaid populations separated from the Al-Jubail population. The finding of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed that parallel to those given by the UPGMA cluster analysis. The results demonstrated that the usefulness of ISSR markers for estimating the genetic diversity within and among of Chiloscyllium arabicum populations and also, gain genetic information preliminary that can be effected for monitoring and management conservation of this species.