Genetic variability of Artemia franciscana populations from different salterns of southeast coast of India

Abstract

The brine shrimp Artemia franciscana consists of a complex of phenotypes within a population confined to various salterns in southeast coast of India. Studies are scarce for their occurrence based on morphology and morphometric traits, while seldom any on their genetic variability. Therefore, the present study investigates the genetic variability among the populations of Artemia franciscana samples collected from four different hypersaline habitats Kelambakkam (KBM), Vedaranyam (VDM), Tuticorin (TCN) and Nagarcoil (NGC) from southeast coast of India. Since the genetic variability could be anywhere in their genomes the study was analyzed using two different Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers such as (i) the Operon series (OPK) and (ii) Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC). The OPK primers generated 367 fragments which indicated polymorphism of 85.29%, Nei's diversity index of 0.25 ± 0.16 and Shannon's index as 0.39 ± 0.22 among the population. Furthermore, ERIC-PCR generated 138 fragments with 20.83% of polymorphism while the Nei's diversity and Shannon's index was 0.06 ± 0.13 and 0.10 ± 0.20 respectively. Interestingly, operon primers of OPK3 and OPK17 revealed the presence of genetic variations among the populations, and the results were consistent with ERIC markers. Scatter plot and cluster analyses revealed the existence of two major groups in the population collected from the study sites; one with KBM and VDM, while other with TUT and NGC. Hence, the present investigation attributes the genetic variations in a panmictic population of A. franciscana which exist as two distinct groups.