An analysis of genetic diversity in Marphysa sanguinea from different geographic populations using ISSR polymorphisms

• 108 ISSR loci were polymorphic from 5 populations of Marphysa sanguinea.
• The among-population component accounted for 36.7%, while the within-population component accounted for 63.3%.
• The genetic diversity among the five populations of M. sanguinea is high.

The genetic diversity of five wild populations of marine polychaete Marphysa sanguinea found in China was investigated using Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat-PCR (ISSR-PCR) polymorphisms. The results of the ISSR-PCR showed that 108 (90.8%) of the 119 ISSR loci tested were polymorphic. The Shannon's information index value was 0.4981, Nei's gene diversity was 0.3418, and the coefficient of gene differentiation (Gst) was 0.3671, which indicated that the among-population component accounted for 36.7% of the total variation, while the within-population component accounted for 63.3%. A UPGMA tree showed that the five populations clustered into two branches. Populations from Dalian, Xingcheng, and Rushan clustered together, while the two Guangxi populations, A and B, clustered into a unique group. The results indicated that the genetic diversity among the five populations of M. sanguinea is high, which will provide useful information for the protection of biodiversity among marine polychaetes.