Mitochondrial DNA variation in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea populations of Japanese Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus niphonius

• Published in: Fisheries science 2009-05, Vol.75 (3), p.593-600
• Main Authors: Shui, B.N.(Zhejiang Ocean Univ. (China)), Han, Z.Q, Gao, T.X, Miao, Z.Q, Yanagimoto, T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ADN; ANIMAL POPULATION; Animal populations; Biomedical and Life Sciences; CARITA; DNA; EAST CHINA SEA; Fish; Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management; Fisheries; Food Science; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; GENE; GENES; Genetic diversity; Genetic structure; GENETIC VARIATION; GENETICA; GENETICS; GENETIQUE; Haplotypes; KINGMACKEREL; Larvae; Life Sciences; MAR AMARILLO; MAR DE CHINA ORIENTAL; Marine; MER DE CHINE ORIENTALE; MER JAUNE; Mitochondrial DNA; Ocean currents; Original Article; Petitions; Pleistocene; POBLACION ANIMAL; Population; POPULATION ANIMALE; Population genetics; Population growth; Population structure; Scomber; SCOMBEROMORUS; Scomberomorus niphonius; THAZARD; VARIACION GENETICA; VARIATION GENETIQUE; YELLOW SEA
• ISSN: 0919-9268; 1444-2906
• DOI: 10.1007/s12562-009-0083-3

Japanese Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus niphonius is a commercially important species in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea, but there is limited knowledge of its genetic population structure. In order to detect its genetic structure, sequence variation of the first hypervariable segment of the control region was analyzed among eight populations of S. niphonius from the East China Sea and Yellow Sea. A total of 119 polymorphic sites were detected in the 505-bp segment of the control region among 134 individuals of S. niphonius, defining 112 haplotypes. Mean haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity for the eight populations were 0.9963+-0.0017 and 0.0236+-0.0119, respectively. As expected, analysis of molecular variance detected no significant differences at all hierarchical levels, and most of the conventional population Phisub(ST) statistics were negative, indicating that no significant population genetic structure exists in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea. Moreover, the exact test of differentiation supported the null hypothesis that S. niphonius within the East China Sea and Yellow Sea constitutes a panmictic mtDNA gene pool. Neutrality tests and mismatch distribution revealed that S. niphonius underwent population expansion in the late Pleistocene. Strong dispersal capacity of larvae and adults, long-distance migrations, and ocean currents in the studied area could be the reasons for genetic homogeneity in this species in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea. Insufficient time to accumulate genetic variation might be another explanation for the lack of genetic structure in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea.