Guilin Wang , Rudi Mai

Tropical Marine Fisheries Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 4   
Received: 09 Jun., 2025    Accepted: 28 Jul., 2025    Published: 12 Aug., 2025

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.

Epigenetics provides a new perspective to explain how the genome regulates biological phenotype without changing DNA sequences. As an important breeding shellfish, oysters (oysters) have their growth rate and stress resistance directly affect economic benefits and ecological functions. In recent years, research has found that epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNA are widely involved in the growth and development of oysters and the environmental stress response. This study reviews the physiological basis of oyster growth and stress resistance, focusing on the role of DNA methylation in the regulation of key growth gene expression, the effect of histone covalent modification on nutritional metabolism and energy distribution, and the functions of non-coding RNAs such as miRNA, lncRNA, and piRNA in regulatory networks. In addition, we summarize how epigenetic mechanisms affect oyster adaptation to environmental stresses such as temperature, salinity, pathogens, etc., including the possible role of epigenetic memory in transgenerational stress resistance. Epigenetic regulation is an important frontier field for understanding the genetics and environmental adaptation of oyster traits, and has potential guiding significance for cultivating high-yield, stress-resistant oyster varieties.

Oysters; Stress resistance; DNA methylation; Non-coding RNA; Epigeneticss