Fei Zhao , Manman Li

1 Institute of Life Science, Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
2 Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 3   
Received: 30 Apr., 2025    Accepted: 08 Jun., 2025    Published: 28 Jun., 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.

Abalone is an important seafood shellfish, but it faces bottlenecks such as slow growth, poor stress resistance and limited reproduction efficiency during artificial domestication and breeding. This study reviews the rules of phenotypic trait variation during abalone domestication and deeply analyzes its genetic basis and molecular mechanism. In terms of traits such as growth, stress resistance and reproduction, the domesticated abalone population showed significant variations, and some excellent traits were strengthened by artificial selection. The application of modern molecular breeding technology has promoted the research on genetic improvement of abalone. Multi-omics such as genome sequencing, QTL localization, candidate gene screening, transcriptome and proteome have revealed important genes and signaling pathways that affect the trait of abalone. For example, IGF and mTOR are involved in regulating growth, NF-κB and HSP networks mediate immune resistance, and gonad development is regulated by specific genes. We also discuss the latest attempts and challenges of RNA interference and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in abalone functional gene verification. Through cases such as the cultivation of Japanese Ezo abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) disease-resistant strains, South African abalone (Haliotis midae) multi-generation breeding, and Hainan hybrid abalone multi-omics analysis, the direction of innovation in the abalone seed industry is expected. Research believes that integrating traditional breeding and molecular biology methods is expected to accelerate the genetic improvement of abalone, cultivate new varieties with fast growth and strong resistance to stress, and promote the sustainable development of abalone breeding industry.

Abalone; Trait variation; Genetic basis; Multiomic analysis; Gene editing