EFFECTIVENESS OF MICROSATELLITE MARKERS FOR PARENTAGE ANALYSIS OF GIANT GROUPER (Epinephelus lanceolatus) BROODSTOCK

Giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) is a endangered species considered as a vul- nerable grade-organism in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list. As a fun- damental baseline study for establishing a giant grouper broodstock management system, the effici- ency for parentage analysis was evaluated by using microsatellite makers previously available in this species. The eight microsatellites generated a total 52 alleles from 32 individuals, the mean expected heterozygosity was 0.663, and mean inbreeding coefficient was 0.011, consequently suggesting that the present broodstock has retained the high level of genetic diversity. However, our analysis also rec- ommended the collection of more broodfish for more stable brood line, since the estimated value of the effective population size was proven to be 35. The average probability of identity was 6.85×10-11 . NE-2P and NE-PP of paternity non-exclusion probabilities were 0.00835 and 0.00027, respectively. As the result of principle coordinate analysis, the genotype of broodstock was not overlapped, suggesting that the management system of giant grouper based on eight selected microsatellite markers might be effective, although further validation with extended number of broodfish might also be needed in future. Data of present study could be a useful basis to avoid the unwanted selection of broodfish that possess close genetic relationship with current broodstock, and consequently to establish effective broodstock management system allowing the production of progeny with high genetic diversity.