Population genetic structure of the Korean Pacific abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta inferred from microsatellite marker analysis

摘要

The Pacific abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta, of the family Haliotidae, is one of the most important shellfish species in eastern Asia. In Korea, it is intensively caught in Jeju Island, where it is highly appreciated as seafood. However, its natural population has declined drastically in the past several decades. To investigate its genetic characteristics for conservation and management purposes, the genetic variation in four populations from Jeju Island, Korea was analyzed using 20 microsatellite loci. All populations showed very high genetic diversity and a deficit of heterozygotes. The minor but significant genetic differentiations (both F-ST and R-ST) observed were mainly due to genetic differences between populations from Pyoson and other localities, suggesting that abalone may not be panmictic. The Pyoson abalone population showed a significant difference in allelic richness that could be related to harvesting intensity and stock enhancement activity. This result was also corroborated by an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). Overall, this report presents novel observations of the wild genetic population structure in H. diversicolor supertexta from Korea using microsatellite markers and provides critical information for supporting conservation strategies for this species, namely that the Pyoson abalone population should have a higher conservation priority due to its unique genetic characteristic