Genetic diversity in farmed Asian Nile and red hybrid tilapia stocks evaluated from microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA analysis

We analyzed microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (mtDNA-RFLP) in two domesticated (NIFI and Israel) and four genetically improved (GIFT, GMT, FAC-selected and SEAFDEC-selected) Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus) as well as five red hybrid tilapia ( Oreochromis mossambicus× O. niloticus) stocks (BFS, FACred, NIFIred, HL, and PF) farmed in Asia. Microsatellite variation at five loci ( UNH216, UNH172, UNH123, UNH147, UNH222) was more informative in characterizing stock differences than the mtDNA-RFLP markers that were based only on 14 restriction morphs. Contemporary microsatellite data showed that GIFT Nile tilapia had the highest mean expected heterozygosity ( H e=0.813), while GMT had the lowest ( H e=0.666). The unselected NIFI stock and SEAFDEC-selected were genetically similar, while GMT differed significantly from the other Nile tilapia stocks. Among the red tilapias, NIFIred had the highest H e (0.715), while BFS had the lowest variability ( H e=0.567). The Taiwanese red tilapia HL and Thai NIFIred were genetically similar. Except for NIFI, most of the Nile and red tilapia stocks exhibited remarkably significant homozygote excess relative to Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE), suggesting some degree of inbreeding. Asian Nile tilapias were more genetically diverse (pooled H e=0.791; mtDNA nucleotide divergence value d A=0.009) than the red tilapias (pooled H e=0.697; mean d A=0.004). This slight divergence between the Nile and red tilapias was also seen in the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA; F CT=0.0018) and in genetic distance and nucleotide divergence dendrograms. However, the AMOVA revealed that the greater percentage of variation (99.33%) in the total genetic diversity of the surveyed stocks is principally due to differences at the individual level and not between nor within groups. The significance of these results is that they reflect and lead to new inferences regarding the selective breeding and culture methods used in managing these farmed stocks.