International Journal of Aquaculture, 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 21-28 http://www.aquapublisher.com/index.php/ija 21 Feature Review Open Access Genetic Analysis of Tilapia Strainsin Different Continents: Tracing Population Structureand Domestication History RudiMai Hainan Tropical Agricultural Resources Research Institute, Tropical Bioresources Research Center, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding email: rudi.mai@hitar.org International Journal of Aquaculture, 2025, Vol.15, No.1 doi: 10.5376/ija.2025.15.0003 Received: 21 Jan., 2025 Accepted: 22 Feb., 2025 Published: 27 Feb., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Mai, 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. Preferred citation for this article: Mai R.D., 2025, Genetic analysis of tilapia strainsin different continents: tracing population structureand domestication history, International Journal of Aquaculture, 15(1): 21-28 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2025.15.0003) Abstract Tilapia has excellent adaptability, rapid growth and high nutritional value, and has become an important freshwater breeding species. However, intensive breeding and artificial breeding have led to the gradual loss of genetic diversity of tilapia species. This study takes tilapia strains from different continents as the research object, and displays the genetic structure and domestication history of tilapia populations through genetic analysis. Research background shows that African native populations retain high genetic diversity, while in introduced areas such as Asia and the Americas, there are obvious genetic differentiation and characteristic differences due to artificial breeding and environmental pressure. The research hopes to clarify the global diffusion path and domestication process of tilapia, find out the genetic variants and genetic markers related to economic traits during domestication, provide a scientific basis for the sustainable management and protection of tilapia genetic resources, and explore the potential of future intercontinental cooperative research, thereby promoting the long-term development of tilapia breeding technology. Keywords Tilapia; Genetic diversity; Population structure; Domestication history; Genetic drift 1 Introduction Tilapia is highly adaptable, grows rapidly and is rich in nutrition. It is the main target of the United Nations Food Organization’s promotion of freshwater aquaculture to the world and is also a preferred variety of freshwater aquaculture that China has prioritized development. Lyapia is native to freshwater waters in Africa and then gradually expands to Asia, America and other regions, and forms multiple localized varieties worldwide. Its wide distribution is due to its excellent biological characteristics and is closely related to long-term domestication and breeding choices in humans. In the aquaculture industry, the genetic resources of tilapia directly affect farming efficiency and variety improvement. However, with the advancement of intensive farming and the intensification of environmental pressure, the genetic diversity of tilapia is at risk of loss. Intensive artificial breeding may lead to a genetic bottleneck effect, while the introduction of foreign genes may change the genetic structure of local lines. Therefore, evaluating the genetic diversity of tilapia, tracing the domestication process, and digging out key genes that affect economic traits have become the core topics of current research. This study will sort out the genetic structure and domestication history of tilapia strains in different continents, and analyze the process of tilapia spreading around the world. Combined with genetics, we hope to reveal the genetic changes of tilapia and provide a scientific basis for the management and protection of genetic resources. 2 Global Population Structure of Tilapia 2.1 Genetic diversity of African native populations Africa is the origin of tilapia, where tilapia populations show rich genetic diversity. There is a clear geographical isolation effect in African tilapia, and the genetic structure of tilapia populations in East, North and West Africa are different. There are studies that report the population genetic structure and genetic diversity of red-bellied tilapia in three different Egyptian aquatic environments: salty (Lake Idku), ocean (Al-Max Bay) and freshwater (Lake Nasser). Habitat differences, environmental factors and harvest pressure are the main characteristics of the
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