GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF MALE MORPHOTYPES OF MACROBRACHIUM ROSENBERG USING RAPO MARKERS

Among the males of freshwater prawn Macrobrachiurn rosenbergjj there exists a distinct pattern of groh variation that reflects in a diversified Population structure at the end of the culture period. In the present study an attempt has been made to delineate the basis of size heterogeneity among three main male morphotypes of M rosenberg/i following RAPD based DNA analysis. Results showed that RAPD based fingerprinting were a useful tool to assess the genetic variability of freshwater prawn. A distinct difference in the banding pattern for 6 primers namely OPA-2, OPA 4, OPA-6, OPA-7, OPA-8 and OPA-9 could be recorded. It would thus appear that a genetically significant difference at the molecular level exits among the male morphotypes of M. rosenbergil which contributes to its size heterogeneity.