Genetic diversity of Pakistani common myna (<i>Acridotheres tristis</i>) revealed by RAPD-PCR

Abstract

Acridotheres tristis is a widely distributed species of Pakistan but no genetic data of this species is available in the literature. In this study, we applied 8 selected RAPD markers from a total of 20 tested markers, to decipher the genetic structure and genetic diversity of different populations. The RAPD markers revealed total polymorphism at P = 87.73%. The overall Nei’s genetic diversity (H) and Shannon’s index (S) levels were high and remained at H = 0.369 and S = 0.540. The genetic distances (D) between populations were also observed to be high. These distances ranged from D = 0.137 between Dera Gahzi Khan and Khanewal to D = 0.273 between Gujranwala and Khanewal. This study will be useful in conservation plans in future under changing environmental scenario.

Key words: Acridotheres tristis, genetic diversity, genetic distance, RAPD markers.