POPULATION STRUCTURE OF Cyprinion semiplotum (MC CLELLAND, 1839) BASED ON MITOCHONDRIAL ATPASE 6/8 GENE

Cyprinion semiplotum (Order: Cypriniformes; family: Cyprinidae), one of the probable candidate species for highland aquaculture has a limited distribution in the Eastern Himalayan rivers and mainly distributed in the river system of Arunachal Pradesh. It has an important role in ecology, and an important source of nutritious food and livelihood to the local people. In the recent past, the population of this species has declined due to various anthropogenic factors and consequently it has been categorized under vulnerable species. Understanding genetic variation is important owing to its implications in different genetic programs, conservation and management of natural resources. The present study is carried out to characterize the genetic stocks of Cyprinion semiplotum from selected rivers using mitochondrial ATPase 6/8 gene. A total of 62 individuals were sampled from 3 distinct geographical locations covering three river basins. A total of 14 haplotypes were found with haplotype diversity value of 0.8017 and nucleotide diversity in the range of 0.0013-0.0028 indicating a very low degree of genetic divergence among populations. The result of AMOVA also revealed that 99.44% of the genetic variation contained within populations and 0.56% occurred among populations. Population differentiation analysis based on F_ST value (0.005) showed lack of population structuring among samples collected from three rivers / tributaries.  From the overall results of the present study it can be inferred that C. semiplotum populations in North-eastern part of India have low genetic differentiation and could be considered as a single population. This information would be useful in taking up of genetic improvement programmes, effective management, and conservation of natural genetic resources of C. semiplotum.