GENETIC DIVERSITY OF THE ENDEMIC SPECIES SHABBOUT (Arabibarbus grypus (HECKEL, 1843)) BASED ON PARTIAL CYTOCHROME B SEQUENCES OF MITOCHONDRIAL DNA

Arabibarbus grypus (Heckel, 1843), a species endemic in river systems of Euphrates and Tigris, is an economically important freshwater fish. In this study, the genetic diversity of Arabibarbus grypus populations was determined basen on partial cytochrome b gene sequence of mtDNA. Totally 31 samples were collected from four localities and five polymorphic sites and five haplotypes were identified by carrying out mtDNA analysis. Mean haplotype (Hd) and nucleotide diversity (π) were calculated to be 0.348 and 0.00144 respectively. All values obtained following neutrality tests were found to be negative and statistically insignificant. Median joining network revealed that haplotype H1 was at the center of the network and was dominant. In the current survey, certain haplotypes (H2, H4, H5) identified for mtDNA cytochrome b gene are the new results to the literature and presented a novel data set for genetic diversity of this species.