Molecular Detection of Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) in the South-western Region of Bangladesh

Background and Objectives: To improve the sustainable management and control of North American, western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) in the freshwater of Bangladesh, the most invasive to indigenous species, caused the severe infestation to all carps, genetic diversity of the species were studied using DNA sequences of nucleotides first time in Bangladesh.This study was aimed to develop molecular detection method to confirm the G. affinis in freshwater and construct a genetic baseline to control this species. Materials and Methods:This study consisted of 6 microsatellites nuclear DNA loci that were used for the construction of a genetic baseline used a gene-specific marker (cytb).A total of 6 fish for 6 sites were used for DNA extraction, then genotyped and analyzed to examine genetic diversity to assess the persistence of a species in the environment.Results: Genetic diversity was inferred as some polymorphism and monomorphism with minimal genetic distance, in which a UPGMA dendrogram showed the same cluster.MEGA X [3] computes pairwise distance (0.01) and overall mean distance (0.01) of substitution type is nucleotides between a query and the database sequences were constructed.The optimal tree with the sum of branch length = 0.036 showed a homogenous pattern among lineages.Conclusion: This study confirms the limited genetic diversity of G. affinis, across 6 sampling sites which might be used in the future to control mosquitofish (G.affinis) and the propagation of its parasitic Lernaea sp.