Genealogy and phylogeography of Cyprinid fish Labeo rohita (Hamilton, 1822) inferred from ATPase 6 and 8 mitochondrial DNA gene analysis

ATPase 6/8 gene (842 bp) of mitochondrial DNA was sequenced in Labeo rohita samples (n = 253) collected from nine rivers belonging to four river basins; Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mahanadi. Analysis revealed 44 haplotypes with high haplotype diversity (Hd) 0.694 and low nucleotide diversity (π) 0.001. The within population variation was larger (83.44%) than among population differences (16.56%). The mean FST value (0.166; P < 0.05) for overall populations revealed moderate level of genetic structuring in the wild L. rohita populations. The haplotype network presented a single clade for wild L. rohita population, from different rivers. Negative values for Fu's index (FS), mismatch distribution analysis indicated period of expansion in L. ro- hita population. The time after recent expansion was estimated for each population, between 0.042 to 0.167 mya. The pattern of Isolation by Distance (IBD) was not significant (r = -0.113, P < 0.287), when all the sampling locations were compared (Mantel test), however, when an outlier (Indus, Brahmaputra and Mahanadi) was removed from the whole population set, a clear positive correlation between pairwise FST and geographic distance (Km) was seen. The analysis of data demonstrated that ATPase6/8 gene polymorphism is a potential marker to understand genetic population structure of wild L. rohita existing in different rivers. The study identified population substructure in wild L. rohita with common ancestral origin (Current Zoology 60 (4): 460-471, 2014).