Genetic variability in Trigla lucerna by microsatellite molecular markers isolation.

Tub gurnard (Trigla lucerna L.) has been investigated as a new potential fish for farming in the last years. In fact, the decrease in prices, occurred after the increase of sea bass and sea brearo production, is a source of many problems for several Mediterranean fish farm system. For this reason the possibility of diversifying the production has been considered towards other valuable species. The lack of knowledge about the genetic population structure of this Triglidae has prompted the attention on the evaluation of its genetic variability for a better management of broodstock and tub gurnard discrimination according to the geographic distribution. Microsatellite markers have been elected to characterise, at DNA level, the species. They have never been described neither in tub gurnard fish, nor in species from the same suborder. To isolate SSR from the tube gurnard, the FIASCO (Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences COntaining repeats) protocol was chosen and 32 loci were isolated. In order to verify the informativity of the isolated loci, three different population, reared and wild type sampled in the middle Adriatic and in the Trieste gulf, were analyzed. Moreover two multiplex PCR were developed and the genotyping of 45 animals, from different populations, was performed showing a high allele ranges between the considered samples.