Mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis of Arabibarbus grypus (Heckel, 1843) living in Great Zab (Erbil, Iraq)

Abstract

Arabibarbus grypus (Heckel, 1843), which naturally lives in the Euphrates and Tigris River systems and is endemic, is an economically important fish species consumed by humans. Since the population of this species, which is hunted by both fishermen and local peo-ple, is decreasing day by day, its genetic characteristics need to be determined. This study aims to determine the genetic characteristics of A. grypus samples living in Great Zab based on sequence analysis of mtDNA cyt b and mtDNA d loop gene regions. Total DNA isolation was performed from muscle tissue using the kit. Then, Polymerase Chain Reac-tion was applied through spe-cific primers to mtDNA cyt b and mtDNA d loop gene re-gions, and the target regions were amplified. The products with the target length were sent to the commercial firm and sequence analysis was per-formed. Regarding these spec-imens living in Great Zab, two haplotypes were determined for the mtDNA cyt b gene re-gion and five haplotypes for the mtDNA d loop gene re-gion. These haplotypes were compared with the haplotypes in the gene bank and the re-sults were evaluated. Some important data has been ob-tained regarding the conserva-tion and management of this fish species. Since three new haplotypes were detected for the d loop region in this stud-ied locality, it is important to include the samples in this lo-cality in conservation studies.