The objective of this work was to evaluate the genetic variability of commercial stocks of shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, using RAPD markers and different statistical methods of analysis in Canavieiras, BA, Brazil. Twenty primers were used to obtain 59 polymorphic markers. A significant differentiation among stocks, with phiST = 0.186 (p<0.001), was observed by analysis with the software AMOVA. However, an analysis with the software HICKORY suggested no genetic structure (<FONT FACE=Symbol>q b</FONT > or = 0.002), but considerable inbreeding within stocks, possibly due to consanguineous crossings (f = 0.729). Statistical tests with bootstrap indicated 48 as the minimum number of RAPD markers suitable for studies on genetic variability of this species. By the dendrogram produced from the Jaccard similarity matrix, it was observed that the analyzed stocks are composed of genetically different individuals.
molecular markers; genetic variability; aquaculture; RAPD
