Genetic characteristics of Pacific cod populations in Korea based on microsatellite markers

Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) is a commercially important species in Korea. However, overfishing in the 1990s caused a strong decline in catch, and in response, artificially cultured juveniles have been released annually to enhance the stocks. Cod fishing has recently increased in Korea, and the variation within the cod population necessitates the study of their genetic characteristics. In this study, we utilized two newly developed and eight previously reported microsatellite markers to examine the genetic characteristics of Pacific cod populations. We compared the genetic diversity and genetic structure of three cod populations from the Korean coasts with three populations from the North Pacific Ocean. Genetic differences were identified in the eastern sea cod population from Korea. These genetic differences included a large number of alleles per locus, a large number of unique alleles, higher frequencies of the most common alleles, and lower gene diversity compared to the other Korean populations. Additionally, the eastern sea cod population was genetically significantly differentiated from the southern and western sea populations in Korea, in which no significant genetic differentiation was detected (F-ST = 0.033 and 0.031, respectively, P < 0.005).