ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Fisheries, Aquaculture and Living Resources
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1593382
Comparison of genetic diversity and population structure of Saccostrea mordax lineages A, B, and C across South China Sea and Celebes Sea
Provisionally accepted
Yinjie Zhang1
Haitao Ma2*
Chenghui Han2Zhen Zhao1Zonglu Wei1Xixi Duan2
Jiangwei Li1
Yanping Qin2
Jun Li2
Ziniu Yu2
Ying Pan1
Yuehuan Zhang2- 1Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
- 2South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guangzhou, China
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Saccostrea mordax is an ecologically important bivalve species and a potential genetic resource for oyster breeding that inhabit in the Indo-Western Pacific region, characterized by three distinct lineages: A, B, and C. However, limited information is available about its genetic variation and genetic structure. The present study was conducted to study genetic diversity and population structure of S. mordax lineages A, B, and C based on mitochondrial COI gene data across the South China Sea and Celebes Sea. The UPGMA phylogenetic tree among populations, BI phylogenetic tree among individuals and median network revealed three main clusters, corresponding to S. mordax lineages A, B, and C. The results of K2P sequence divergence, pairwise Φst, gene flow and AMOVA indicated clear genetic differences among the lineages, combined with sympatric in all 7 geographical populations, these suggests lineages A and B are transitional periods of new species formation. Moreover, different patterns of population subdivision were found within lineages A, B and C. In lineage A, significant genetic differentiation was only observed between YM (Celebes Sea) and other populations (South China Sea), with a significant correlation between geographical distance and genetic distance among populations. In lineages B and C, there was no genetic differentiation between YM (Celebes Sea) and other populations (South China Sea), and no significant correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance among populations. The population history analyses indicated that populations of lineage A have experienced a recent sudden expansion, while populations of lineages B and C were large stable. These findings are essential for the conservation, sustainable utilization, and ecological restoration of S. mordax.
Keywords: Saccostrea mordax, distinct lineage, genetic diversity, population structure, Mitochondrial DNA (COI gene)
Received: 14 Mar 2025; Accepted: 01 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Ma, Han, Zhao, Wei, Duan, Li, Qin, Li, Yu, Pan and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Haitao Ma, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guangzhou, China
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