Spatial and temporal genetic variation of green mussel, Perna viridis in the Gulf of Thailand and implication for aquaculture.

The culture of green mussel (Perna viridis) in the Gulf of Thailand depends on natural spat which are believed to come from spawning grounds adjacent to major river mouths. In the present paper, genetic diversity of spatial and temporal populations of green mussel in the Gulf of Thailand was investigated using five microsatellite loci. The results showed moderate genetic variation of all 11 populations (averaged number of alleles per locus, A = 10.4-12.2; effective number of alleles per locus, A(e) = 5.36-6.59; mean allelic richness, A(r) = 10.23-12.06; observed heterozygosity, H(o) = 0.52-0.63, and expected heterozygosity, H(e) = 0.66-0.73) without significant differences among populations. No sign of bottleneck or genetic disequilibrium was observed. Genetic differentiation among spatial populations was low (F (ST) = 0.0046, CI(0.95) = 0.0020-0.0083 for the samples collected in January, 2007, and F (ST) = 0.0088, CI(0.95) = 0.0010-0.0162 for the samples collected in July, 2007) while temporal variation was significant as revealed by the analysis of molecular variance. Multidimensional scaling separated temporal population groups with minor exception. The assignment test revealed that most of the recruits were from other populations.