Development of microsatellite markers and evaluation of the genetic diversity of the edible sea anemone Paracondylactissinensis (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) in China

Carlgren, 1934 is a sea anemone with economic value in China. The wild population of has been shrinking due to overfishing and environmental pollution, which have caused price instability. In winter, the price of can reach 25 USD per kilogram. Up to now, there are no genetic markers developed for , preventing a further exploration of their population genetic diversity. In this study, the full-length transcriptome of was sequenced and microsatellite DNA markers (simple sequence repeats [SSRs]) were developed from those transcripts. A total of 52 primer pairs, which can amplify specific polymorphic bands in PCR experiments, were designed for the SSR markers. Genetic diversity and population genetics were analysed for populations collected from the coasts of Taizhou and Rizhao using six microsatellite DNA loci. While inbreeding was detected in both populations (F > 0), the overall number of alleles (Na = 11.3) and bottleneck analysis suggested that the genetic diversity of has not been greatly impacted. Clustering analyses using STRUCTURE, principal coordinate analysis and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean tree revealed that the Taizhou population diverged from the Rizhao population; however, the genetic differentiation between the populations was moderate. Human-mediated commercial activities may be the principal reasons for the gene flow between the populations. Our study provides the first evaluation of the genetic resources of wild populations in China, which can serve as a useful reference for future comparative studies on population genetics and may guide policy-makers in initiating strategies for germplasm conservation and artificial breeding.