Evaluation of Genetic Diversity in Giant African Land Snails Using Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) Markers

Abstract

V Evaluation of Genetic Diversity in Giant African Land Snails Using Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) Markers The genetic diversity and relatedness among three populations (A. achatina, A. fulica and A. marginata) of giant African land snails, a highly relished source of protein in West Africa were studied using Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. Thirty (30) snails consisting of ten (10) each of A. achatina, A. fulica and A. marginata were collected randomly from three locations in Nigeria for genetic diversity studies. DNA were extracted using CTAB methods with minor modifications  and ten (10) ISSR primers were used for PCR-DNA amplification and bands were visualized under UV light using ethidium bromide. Data analyses were computed using power marker version 3.25, POPGENE version 1.32 and GenAlex 6.5 software. Results obtained revealed that the polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.7139 to 0.9230, while percentage polymorphism ranged from 55.55% to 92.31%. Average percentage polymorphism was 73.85%. Molecular-based cluster generated two major clusters. AMOVA result gave 0.00% of variation among the populations while variation within populations was 100%. Snail populations used in this study showed very narrow genetic diversity suggesting that they may come from a common ancestor. The implication of the results taken together is that further genotyping and analyses should be carried out using other DNA markers.