The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, is the most important and valuable commercial fishery species in Korea. Its farming started 20 years ago and is still rapid expansion in Korea. In this study, to maintain the genetic diversity of this valuable marine resource, possible genetic similarity and differences between the wild population and hatchery population in Tongyeong, Korea were accessed using multiplex assays with nine highly polymorphic microsatellite loci. A total of 250 different alleles were found over all loci. Despite a long history of hatchery practices, very high levels of polymorphism (mean alleles = 22.89 and mean heterozygosity = 0.92) were detected between the two populations. No statistically significant reductions were found in heterozygosity or allelic diversity in the hatchery population compared with the wild population. However, significant genetic heterogeneity was found between two populations. These results provide no evidence to show that hatchery practice of Pacific oyster in Korea has significantly affected the genetic variability of the hatchery stock. Although further studies are needed for comprehensive determinations of the hatchery and wild populations with increased number of Pacific oyster sample collections, information on the genetic variation and differentiation obtained in this study can be applied for genetic monitoring of aquaculture stocks, genetic improvement by selective breeding and designing of more efficient conservation management guidelines for these valuable genetic materials.
