Genetic variability and differentiation of common carp (Cyprinuscarpio) in southern Caspian Sea and Aras dam

Common carp CyprinuscarpioL. is an important economic species in Caspian Sea. Genetic variability and differentiation of common carp investigated in and Gorgan rood estuary, Ramsar shoreline, Anzali wetland and Aras dam using microsatellite markers. A total of 100 specimens of adult common carp were sampled from regions. Seven pairs of microsatellites were tested on the common carp. In this study, only five primer pairs (MFW6,MFW7¡MFW9¡ SyP4 æ Ca3/4) were used successfully. Analyses revealed that the average of alleles per locus was 7.7 (range 2 to 12 alleles per locus in regions). All sampled regions contained private alleles. The average observed and expected heterozygosity was 0.790 and 0.863, respectively. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were seen in most cases. Average of Fis, Nm and FSTwere -0.104, 2.9 and 0.099 respectively. FSTbandRSTestimates in AMOVA indicated significant genetic differentiation among regions, indicating that the populations were divergent. The data generated in this study provides useful information on the genetic variation and differentiation in populations of common carp.