Full Length Research Paper

Genetic diversity and historical demography of Chinese shrimp Feneropenaeus chinensis in Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea based on mitochondrial DNA analysis

Yu Long Li^1,2, Xiao Yu Kong²*, Zi Niu Yu², Jie Kong^3, Shen Ma¹ and Li Mei Chen¹

¹Mariculture Research laboratory, Education Ministry of China, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.

²Laboratory of Marine Bio-resource Sustainable Utilization, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.

³Yellow Sea Institute of Fisheries Research, Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science, Qingdao 266071, China.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: xykong@scsio.ac.cn. Tel./ Fax: +86 20 8910 2507.

Accepted 26 January, 2009

Genetic structure and demographic history of shrimp Feneropenaeus chinensis were examined using sequence data from portions of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene. Samples of 91 individuals were collected from 5 localities over most of the species’ range in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea. Variability was detected at a total of 20 nucleotide sites, defining 20 haplotypes of COI in this species. The detected level of variation was low, with H = 0.4816 ± 0.0639 and π = 0.0846 ± 0.0711% respectively. Analysis of molecular variance and the conventional population statistic F_ST revealed no significant genetic structure throughout the range of F. chinensis. Both mismatch distribution analyses and neutrality tests suggested a late Pleistocene or Holocene population expansion (12,100 – 28,500 years ago) for the species, which was consistent with the geological period of formation of the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea. These results indicated that F. chinensis in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea might have undergone a genetic bottleneck or founder event during the late Pleistocene globle glacial period.

Key words: Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene, Feneropenaeus chinensis, historical demography, mtDNA, population expansion.