An insight into advances in fisheries biology, genetics and genomics of African tilapia species of interest in aquaculture

Morphological identification of tilapia species is complicated by extensive intraspecific variation of morphological characters used for classical identification. To address this obstacle, use of molecular techniques as additional tools for identification of these cichlids is recommended. Further, DNA marker technologies are useful in other areas such as conservation genetics, evolutionary biology, molecular ecology, population genetics, fish safety monitoring. A summary of the various methods of tilapia genetic resources characterization based on molecular markers is presented. We focused on some of tilapia species that are widely cultured in Africa, this includes both Oreochromis niloticus and Sarotherodon melanotheron. Eleven molecular markers that were divided into three categories (cytoplasmic, dominant and codominant markers) are commonly used for genetic analysis in tilapia, each has its advantages and disadvantages. Novel methods of genome sequencing and mapping in tilapia are also presented and discussed.