Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Eight Cultured Hypophthalmichthys molitrix in Hubei Province, China, Inferred from Mitochondrial COI Gene

Silver carp's (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) traits and genetic structure are being impacted by artificial proliferation and restocking enhancement. A clear genetic background of cultured silver carp is helpful for exploitation and utilization. Limited research reported the germplasm resources of cultured silver carp. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic diversity of cultured silver carp. Two hundred thirty-three silver carps were sampled from eight cultured populations in Hubei province, and their population structures were analyzed by mitochondrial COI gene. Average contents of bases T, C, A, and G in the 659 bp COI gene sequence were 30.03%, 26.62%, 26.08% and 17.32%, respectively. And 18 haplotypes were defined from 77 variable nucleotides in COI gene. The haplotypes and nucleotide diversities were 0.604 and 0.00325, respectively. Meanwhile, the highest genetic diversity and lowest genetic diversity were detected in cultured populations from Jianli population (Hd: 0.883 and pi: 0.00699) and Yaowan population (Hd: 0.186 and pi: 0.00085), respectively. Pairwise fixation index (Fst) analysis revealed that the level of genetic diversity was moderate (Fst: 0.06). The genetic distance between and within populations were 0.00353 and 0.00329, respectively. And the genetic variation occurred mainly within populations (93.42%), but genetic variation between the population was only 6.58%. Therefore, moderate-level genetic diversity was observed with high haplotype diversity and low nucleotide diversity, suggesting that inbreeding should be avoided among the eight cultured populations in Hubei.