Exploration of the Genetic Diversity and Differentiation of Craspedacusta sowerbyi in Guizhou Province

Abstract

To understand the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation status of Craspedacusta sowerbyi Lankester, 1880 in Guizhou Province, genetic diversity and genetic structure analyses of three geographical populations of C. sowerbyi in Guizhou Province were performed using the results of PCR amplification and direct sequencing based on the mitochondrial DNA COI gene. Sixty-two individuals displayed four haplotypes, and the overall haplotype diversity (Hd) and nucleotide diversity (Pi) of the three C. sowerbyi groups were 0.531 and 0.00067, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that inter- and intrapopulation variation accounted for 41.63039% and 58.36961%, respectively, of the total variation, and the genetic variation coefficient (F st ) was 0.05268. The gene flow (Nm) values between the three C. sowerbyi populations were <1. The results of neutrality, Fu’s Fs and Tajima’s D tests did not show significant negative values. The overall nucleotide diversity of the three C. sowerbyi populations in Guizhou Province was low, especially in the Xiuwen County population, the genetic variation mainly occurred within the populations.