Fish or other marine species are often divided into reproductively isolated populations, known as stocks. Long-term survival of species relies on the well being of the individual stocks within the species. Before effective conservation and management strategies for biological resources can be formulated, the exact species composition must be identified correctly. Various molecular markers, such as RAPD, AFLP, RFLP and microsatellites or DNA fingerprinting, have been widely used not only in differentiating several populations (stocks) of fish or other marine species but also for species identification.

Objectives

There is a need to develop molecular genetic tools and molecular markers for genetic identification of individual stocks of selected fish and other marine species in the Straits of Malacca. The specific objectives of the project are to:

• Characterize and to identify several fish and other marine species using molecular markers.

• Develop the primers pairs to characterize microsatellite loci in selected species.

• Provide services in genetic identification of aquatic organisms that are difficult to identify morphologically or cryptic species.

Activities

The project is scheduled to begin in the year 2000 for 3 years. Project activities will follow the objectives accordingly.

Expected Output

Researcher