Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Markers with Applications in Conservation and Exploitation of Aquatic Natural Populations

Abstract

An increasing number of aquatic species have been studied for genetic polymorphism, which extends the knowledge on their natural populations. One type of high-resolution molecular marker suitable for studying the genetic diversity of large numbers of individuals is single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). This review is an attempt to show the range of applications of SNPs in studies of natural populations of aquatic animals. In recent years, SNPs have been used in the genetic analysis of wild and enhanced fish and invertebrate populations in natural habitats, exploited migratory species in the oceans, migratory anadromous and freshwater fish and demersal species. SNPs have been used for the identification of species and their hybrids in natural environments, to study the genetic consequences of restocking for conservation purposes and the negative effects on natural populations of fish accidentally escaping from culture. SNPs are very useful for identifying genomic regions correlated with phenotypic variants relevant for wildlife protection, management and aquaculture. Experimental size-selective catches of populations created in tanks have caused evolutionary changes in life cycles of fishes. The research results have been discussed to clarify whether the fish populations in natural conditions can undergo changes due to selective harvesting targeting the fastest-growing fishes.

Microsatellites as Molecular Markers with Applications in Exploitation and Conservation of Aquatic Animal Populations

“…The number of SNPs discovered through the application of high-throughput sequencing for a chosen non-model species can be large (exceeding hundreds of thousands). SNP arrays have been designed for genotyping such a large number of loci [ 164 , 165 , 166 , 167 , 168 ]. However, in studies of populations, a subset of diagnostic SNPs can be employed for cost-effective genotyping in individual laboratories.…”

Pangenomics of the cichlid species (Oreochromis niloticus) reveals genetic admixture ancestry with potential for aquaculture improvement in Kenya

“…Pangenome analysis is mostly useful in the identification of Single nucleotide Polymorphism Markers (SNPs) which aid in the identification of the genetic variance within a species. SNPs are highresolution molecular markers, used to analyse the neutral and adaptive genetic diversity of populations with large numbers (Wenne, 2023). SNPs calling has been used to identify species and hybrids in natural environments, as well in examining the genetic implications of restocking as a conservation effort and the deleterious consequences on wild populations of fish accidentally escaping from culture systems (Williams et al, 2010).…”

SNP genotyping revealed a hybrid zone between Mytilus chilensis and M. platensis in southern South America (the Strait of Magellan, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands)

“…Hybrids are heterozygous, they can be identified using a genomic approach based on the divergent genomic regions on the parental taxa and selecting a diagnostic sub-set of markers such as SNPs (Nascimento-Schulze et al, 2023;Westram et al, 2021). These SNP panels can be applied to study a large number of individuals for population genetic purposes (Lamer et al, 2015;Wenne, 2023).…”