Hejun Peng¹

Yuanhe Street Office, Yunhe County, Lishui City, Yuanhe 323600, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 3   doi: 10.5376/ija.2026.16.0014
Received: 18 Apr., 2026    Accepted: 30 May, 2026    Published: 21 Jun., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Peng H.J., 2026, Assessment of genetic diversity in germplasm resources of cultured marine groupers, International Journal of Aquaculture, 16(3): 166-183 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2026.16.0014)

This study explores the classification characteristics, geographic distribution, and utilization status of grouper germplasm resources, and elaborates on the theoretical basis and major evaluation indices of genetic diversity. It focuses on summarizing the application progress of molecular techniques—such as microsatellite markers (SSR), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), mitochondrial DNA, and high-throughput sequencing—in population genetic analyses, and analyzes the genetic structural differences between cultured and wild populations through representative case studies. The results indicate that wild grouper populations generally maintain relatively high genetic diversity, whereas cultured populations commonly exhibit reduced allelic richness, decreased heterozygosity, and increased genetic differentiation, mainly due to founder effects, genetic drift, and artificial selection. Meanwhile, genetic bottlenecks and inbreeding effects have gradually emerged in some cultured populations. Current research still faces limitations, including insufficient sample coverage, lack of a unified evaluation system, and inadequate integration of multi-omics approaches. Based on these findings, this study proposes strengthening genetic monitoring, optimizing broodstock management, establishing germplasm conservation systems, and promoting the application of high-throughput genomic technologies in genetic evaluation and molecular breeding. The results provide a theoretical basis for the conservation of grouper germplasm resources, genetic improvement, and the high-quality development of the aquaculture industry.

Grouper; Germplasm resources; Genetic diversity; Molecular markers; Population genetic structure