Genetic diversity and its implications in tlie conservation of threatened fish species Barilius bendelisis (Hamilton)

Genetic diversity in four populations of the hill stream teleost Barilius bendelisis, a threatened fish species in India, from Ramnagar (Kosi), Srinagar (AlalRAPD) markers for the first time in India. Four selective primers provided distinct and consistent RAPD profiles in all the four populations. Upon screening 40 random decamer primers four primers giving reproducible results were selected and used for generating DNA fingerprints from a total of 48 fish samples collected from the above-mentioned streams. The bands in the range 666-4830 bp were scored for consistent results. A total of 30 loci were scored, 12 of which were found to be polymorphic in nature. The mean values of Nei's gene diversity and Shannon's information index were found 0.1899 and 0.2617 respectively indicating an average level of genetic diversity in the studied samples of the threatened species. The RAPD profiles generated by all the four primers revealed varying degrees of polymorphism, ranging from 25% (primer OPH03) to 45.45% (primer OPA09). The overall oroportion of polymorphic bands and genetic diversity (h) among the four populations was observed 40% and 0.1899.