Determination of genetic structure in Barbus tauricus Kessler, 1877 populations inhabiting a few streams along the Black Sea Region (Turkey) inferred from mtDNA Cytochrome b gene sequence analysis

This study was carried out in order to determine the intra-specific variations in Barbus tauricus populations sampled from different localities in the Black Sea Region. A total of 250 B. tauricus samples were collected from inland waters (Akcay Stream (Samsun), Engiz Stream (Samsun), Terme Stream (Samsun) Karadere Stream (Trabzon) and Degirmenagzi Stream (Duzce)) of Black Sea Region. Intra-species variations in the species of B. tauricus were determined using mitochondrial DNA cyt b squencing. The population genetic structure was revealed by analyzing the molecular variance (AMOVA). For this study, a member of the related fish group, Cyprinus carpio L., 1758 (DQ868874.1)(as an outgroup) and other Barbus species from the GENBANK database was used in comparative analyses. Therefore, total sequence of 1141 bp of the cyt b gene region was obtained and 11 haplotypes were determined. The molecular data obtained by AMOVA revealed that there were intraspecific variations of B. tauricus and that 26.61% of the variation were among the populations. The F (ST) value estimated for all populations and loci confirms genetic heterogeneity in B. tauricus populations (F (ST)= 0.59310). Genetic analyses revealed that B. tauricus populations are geographically structured.