| Abstract: | Chinese mitten crab(Eriocheir sinensis) is an indigenous and ecologically and economically important species in the Liao River area, but its identification and genetic diversity remain poorly understood. To evaluate the germplasm resources of this species, samples were collected from these locations: four sub-populations from the Liao River area and one population from the Yangtze River area; one primer was used to distinguish between the Liao River and the Yangtze River crabs. Thirteen loci were used for crab genetic diversity analysis, and basic statistics showed that the collecting samples were purebred in the Liao River area. The average observed heterozygosity(H_0) of the Liao River population was 0.5931, and the expected heterozygosity(H_e) was 0.8064. The polymorphism information content(PIC) was 0.7753, which showed that the Liao River population had high genetic diversity. The genetic differentiation index(F_(ST)) averaged 0.0342, meaning a low degree of differentiation; cluster analysis indicated that Hujia(HJ), Xinli(XL) and Chenjia(CJ) sub-populations were allocated to the same cluster, while Baqiangzi(BQZ) sub-population was isolated. In summary, these data demonstrated that the crabs in the Liao River had high genetic diversity, but low genetic differentiation. Thus, the Liao River population had the potential for breeding selection. Furthermore, this study also provided valuable genetic information for the conservation of Chinese mitten crab. |
