Department of Genetics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa.
Mol Biol Rep. 2022 Aug;49(8):7327-7336. doi: 10.1007/s11033-022-07522-x. Epub 2022 May 20.
Zebrafish (Danio rerio), a small freshwater fish that originates from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and northern Myanmar, have been widely used as a model organism for studies of developmental biology and genetics. The current study aimed to determine the origin of South African pet shop stock that are currently being used to establish a laboratory population founded from diverse sources available locally.
Zebrafish DNA was extracted from 65 specimens housed at the University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Genetics. For phylogenetic analysis, cytb sequences were generated from all samples. A further 178 sequences were downloaded from the GenBank database, including sequences of an outgroup species (Danio kyathit). Five microsatellite markers were used to further assess the genetic diversity of the UFS zebrafish specimens. A maximum likelihood analysis was performed for the cytb data. Results of the phylogenetic analyses divided the sequences into three major genetic groups, which was congruent with a previous study on laboratory zebrafish provenance. The SA pet shop fish grouped with the lines from the northern and north-eastern regions of India. High levels of microsatellite genetic diversity were observed for the pet shop sourced population, correlating to what has previously been observed in zebrafish.
These results can be used to guide the future development of laboratory lines suited to the needs at the UFS.
斑马鱼（Danio rerio）原产于印度、孟加拉国、尼泊尔、不丹和缅甸北部的一种淡水小鱼，已被广泛用作发育生物学和遗传学研究的模式生物。本研究旨在确定目前用于建立由本地多种来源建立的实验室种群的南非宠物店库存的起源。
从弗里堡大学（UFS）遗传学系的 65 个标本中提取了斑马鱼 DNA。为了进行系统发育分析，从所有样本中生成了 cytb 序列。进一步从 GenBank 数据库中下载了 178 个序列，包括一个外群物种（Danio kyathit）的序列。使用 5 个微卫星标记进一步评估了 UFS 斑马鱼标本的遗传多样性。对 cytb 数据进行了最大似然分析。系统发育分析的结果将序列分为三个主要遗传群，这与之前对实验室斑马鱼来源的研究一致。来自宠物店的鱼类与来自印度北部和东北部的系群聚在一起。宠物店来源的种群观察到高水平的微卫星遗传多样性，这与之前在斑马鱼中观察到的情况一致。
这些结果可用于指导未来开发适合 UFS 需要的实验室系的发展。
