en Biology & physiology Biology & physiology پژوهشي Orginal research papers <font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt line-height: 120% text-autospace: "><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="line-height: 120% font-size: 12pt mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi">An analysis of eight microsatellite loci in 90 individuals was performed to define the genetic structure and variability of three estuarine populations of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Coilia mystus</i></span><span style="color: rgb(19, 20, 19) line-height: 120% font-size: 12pt mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-font-kerning: 0pt mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi">: 30 individuals each <font size="3"><font color="#131413"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>collected from ChangJiang River (Yangtze River) estuary-CJ, MinJiang River estuary-MJ, and ZhuJiang River (Pearl River) estuary-ZJ</font></font></span><span style="line-height: 120% font-size: 12pt mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi">. The results showed polymorphic information contents (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">PIC</i>) of 0.78, 0.77, and <st1:chmetcnv w:st="on" unitname="in" sourcevalue=".64" hasspace="True" negative="False" numbertype="1" tcsc="0">0.64 in</st1:chmetcnv> CJ, MJ, and ZJ, respectively. The mean observed number of alleles (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">N_a</i>) ranged from 7.38 to 11.88. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.09 to 0.21 and from 0.68 to 0.81, respectively. The ZJ population was least polymorphic. Highly significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, mostly due to deficits of heterozygote, were found in these three populations. Pairwise <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">F_ST</i> and Reynolds’ distance indicated that the three estuarine populations were genetically distinct, in accordance with the principal component analysis (PCA) and the Bayesian model-based clustering algorithm analysis. The results showed that pairwise genetic differentiation among these three estuarine populations were relatively high, with possible divergence to subspecies level. This study provides microsatellite DNA evidence for assessing the genetic distinctness of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">C. mystus</i> populations and will benefit fishery resource management and sustainable utilization of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">C. mystus</i>.</span><span style="color: rgb(19, 20, 19) line-height: 120% font-size: 12pt mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman" mso-font-kerning: 0pt mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi"><o:p /></span></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font> Coilia mystus, Microsatellite, Genetic diversity, Population structure, Genetic divergence 271 282 http://jifro.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-154&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Fang Chen 10031947532846003184 10031947532846003184 No Qiqun Cheng qiquncheng@gmail.com 10031947532846003185 10031947532846003185 Yes