Genetic analysis of wild common carp, Cyprinus carpio L. in the Anzali wetland, the Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea and its basin (e.g. Anzali wetland) is one of the natural habitats of wild common carp Cyprinus carpio. In this study the genetic structure of this species in the south-west of Caspian Sea (the Anzali wetland) was investigated using PCR-RFLP analysis of D-loop region. Two hundred of mature fish were collected from 5 stations (40 individuals from each station) including Siahkeshim protected area (SK), Selke wild refuge (S), Sorkhankol wild refuge (SO), Abkenar (A) and the Anzali wetland estuary (E) during spawning season. A 420bp fragment of D-loop was amplified and the PCR products were digested with forty endonuclease enzymes. Four out of them: TasI, SmaI, SspI and ApoI showed polymorphism. Seven different composite haplotypes were detected among 5 stations and AAAA was the most frequent. FST ranged from 0.003-0.99. Over all stations, average haplotype and nucleotide diversity were 0.13 and 0.01, respectively. The highest haplotype (0.42) and nucleotide (0.06) diversities were found in (SO) station. AMOVA test showed that the Anzali wetland probably consists of two different populations of wild common carp which are distributed in SK, A-SO-S-E stations. The results of this study will be useful as a guideline for conservation, restocking as well as cultivation purposes of wild common carp in the Caspian Sea.