Applying microsatellites to the management of farmed turbot stocks (Scophthalmus maximus L.) in hatcheries


Y.J. Borrell, J. Álvarez, E. Vázquez, C. Fernández Pato, C. Martínez Tapia, J.A. Sánchez, G. Blanco-2004
Aquaculture, 241(1-4): 133-150

Abstract:

Eight microsatellite loci reported previously to exhibit high levels of variability were assessed for their utility for determining pedigrees in five turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.) broodstocks from two hatcheries in Spain and for estimating genetic relatedness between pairs of individuals with unknown origin through relatedness coefficients. Discrepancies were found among expected levels of correct parentage assignment obtained by simulation procedures (using Cervus or Probmax) and those obtained working with real descendants. Besides the genetic variability levels found in broodstocks, other factors such as mutation, occurrence of null alleles and genetic similarities among parents of the same sex significantly affected parentage assignment test results. On the other hand, selection of breeding pairs for avoiding inbreeding in progenies would be possible with more than 80% accuracy using relatedness coefficients below zero as the cut-off between the selected individuals. In summary, microsatellite markers are useful tools for parentage studies in hatcheries but their efficacy is not based only on the genetic variability found.

(Laboratorio de Genética Acuícola, Departamento de Biología Funcional, Universidad de Oviedo, 33071 Oviedo, Spain, e-mail of G. Blanco: gloriablanco@uniovi.es)


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