Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 2014, 5, 273-281 ABB http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/abb.2014.53034 Published Online February 2014 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/abb/ ) OPEN ACCESS Inheritance of AFLP markers and genetic linkage analysis in two full-sib families of the marine shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Crustacea, Decapoda) Michele Mantovani Gonçalves 1* , Luciana Correia de Almeida Regitano 2 , Cosme Damião Cruz 3 , Caio Césio Salgado 3 , Patrícia Domingues de Freitas 1 , João Luís Rocha 4 , Ana Karina Guerrelhas Teixeira 4 , Pedro Manoel Galetti-Junior 1 1 Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, Brasil 2 Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste, São Carlos, SP, Brasil 3 Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brasil 4 Genearch Aquacultura Ltda, Rua Pedro Zuca s/n, Praia de Pititinga, Rio do Fogo, RN, Brasil Email: * mmantovanig@hotmail.com Received 13 November 2013; revised 17 January 2014; accepted 25 February 2014 Copyright © 2014 Michele Mantovani Gonçalves et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attri- bution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property Michele Mantovani Gonçalves et al. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guar- dian. ABSTRACT The cultivation of the marine species of shrimp Lito- penaeus vannamei has emerged as one of the segments that best develop in the Brazilian aquaculture, re- presenting the agribusiness that grew the most in re- cent years. Regarding the economic importance of the farming of this species in Brazil, further studies on ge- netic improvement were conducted. A F2 segregating population consisting of 192 samples for each G1 and G2 families, from crossing inbred lines was used for the studies performed in the present work. The ge- netic linkage analysis was based on polymorphic markers derived from nine AFLP (Amplified Frag- ment Length Polymorphism) primers. Fourteen ge- netic linkage groups including 103 segregating poly- morphic markers were constructed covering 350 cM for G1 and four genetic linkage groups including 59 markers were constructed covering 300 cM for G2. Simple marker analyses were performed among indi- viduals evaluated phenotypically, finding markers linked to genes that may be potentially important and useful to assess characteristics of economic impor- tance for traits related to weight and the disease IMN (idiopathic muscle necrosis). The statistical model including markers explained major proportion of phenotypic characteristic weight in relation to disease incidence IMN. KEYWORDS Shrimp; Litopenaeus vannamei; AFLP; Genetic Linkage Groups 1. INTRODUCTION Litopenaeus vannamei is an important marine shrimp species cultivated in aquaculture systems in Brazil and throughout the world. It is native to the Pacific Ocean, where its natural distribution ranges from the Sonora Province in Mexico to the south of Tumbes, in Peru [1]. Many countries have been cultivating this species due to its excellent adaptability to adverse rearing conditions, ease of nutritional and reproductive management, and high profitability and productivity rates [2]. Genetics applied to aquaculture has been claimed as a powerful tool to improve production and disease resistance [3]. In shrimp, many efforts have been made towards the construction of genetic linkage maps in a few commer- cially exploited species, such as Penaeus (Marsupenaeus) japonicus [4,5], Penaeus monodon [7,8], Penaeus (Fen- neropenaeus) chinensis [8] and L. vannamei [9-11]. Such studies have for the most part relied on the use of domi- nant AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) markers, but also microsatellites in a few cases. The mapping of genes that control economically im- portant features has been proven to be efficient for ge- netic studies in diverse aquatic organisms. Before, early works with the association of loci with QTLs (Quantita- * Corresponding author.