ARS | Publication request: USE OF MICROSATELLITE LOCI FOR GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF CHANNEL CATFISH, ICTALURUS PUNCTATUS

Submitted to: International Symposium on Genetics in Aquaculture
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 25, 1997
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Commercial production of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is the largest aquaculture enterprise in the United States, with 445 million pounds of fish processed annually. Increased commercial production over the past twenty years has been accomplished mainly by increased pond acreage and improved pond management. Genetic selection in catfish will benefit from the development of molecular genetic markers useful for identification and selection of superior broodstock. Short tandem repeat (microsatellite) loci have been identified in the channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, genome. Twenty-two selected loci contained 3 to 17 alleles each in a wild population of channel catfish which displayed allelic heterozygosity > 0.7 for 14 of the loci, and > 0.6 for 20 of the loci. Populations of domestic, farm-raised catfish and a research strain displayed levels of heterozygosity similar to the wild population. Microsatellite genotypes have been used to unambiguously identify parents of anonymous spawns, and parentage determination from several broodstock ponds has confirmed multiple spawning by male channel catfish in one breeding season. Composite genotypes at several microsatellite loci will be used to characterize and manage genetically improved lines of catfish released to commercial producers. The microsatellite loci will form the basis of a linkage map of the channel catfish genome to be used for marker assisted selection of genetically superior broodstock and genetic improvement of channel catfish populations.