Study on the genetic variability of the hatchery-released and wild populations of Chinese white shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea

Abstract

In relation to the stock enhancement program for Chinese white shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis, hatchery-released juveniles and wild samples in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea were genotyped using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers to investigate the levels of genetic variation among these populations. Five AFLP primer combinations generated a total of 757 bands across the 268 individuals in nine hatchery-released populations and three wild populations. All 757 bands were polymorphic. High polymorphism at AFLP markers was found within both hatchery-released and wild populations. The percentage of polymorphic loci for populations ranged from 87.22 to 98.60%, while the Nei’s genetic diversity ranged from 0.1822 to 0.2728. Compared with wild populations, the nine hatchery-released populations showed significant genetic changes based on F ST values. All populations were divided into two distinct groups by principal coordinate analysis (PcoA) analysis. Three wild populations (Dalian, Kengli, Middle Yellow Sea) with hatchery-released populations from Rongcheng, Panjin, and Dandong clustered as one group; the rest of hatchery populations formed another group. Interestingly, no obvious geographic cluster was found in the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean tree and PcoA. We recommend monitoring the genetic variability of selected hatchery populations to enhance the conservation of natural Chinese white shrimp F. chinensis resources.