Genetic structure and diversity of Portunus trituberculatus in Chinese population revealed by microsatellite markers

By using six polymorphic microsatellite loci, the population genetic diversity and structure of 120 individuals of Portunus trituberculatus were examined in five wild populations representing different geographical and ecological ranges along the coast of China. Middle level of genetic diversity of P. trituberculatus was revealed by observed heterozygosity, allele number and Shannon information index. Pairwise population differentiations were found between all pairs of populations except Beihai (BH) and Qingdao (QD) (P < 0.05). The greatest differentiation was detected between Yingkou (YK) and QD populations. It was inconsistent with the result in previous study using mitochondrial control region, which showed no differentiation between QD and YK population. Recent bottleneck was identified in Ningbo (NB) population under TPM and IAM models, as well as Dandong (DD) and QD populations under IAM model. Additionally, compared with YK, QD, DD and BH populations, lower historical effective population size with lower genetic diversity were detected in NB population, which called for urgent assessment of the ecological and economic potential of NB fisheries.