Search

Game species are often manipulated by human beings, whose activities can deeply affect their genetic make-up and population structure. We focused on a geographically isolated wild boar population (Sardinia, Italy), which is classified, together with the Corsican population, as a separate subspecies (Sus scrofa meridionalis). Two hundred and ten wild boars collected across Sardinia were analysed with a set of 10 microsatellites and compared with 296 reference genotypes from continental wild populations and to a sample of domestic pigs. The Sardinian population showed remarkable diversity and a high proportion of private alleles, and strongly deviated from the equilibrium. A Bayesian cluster analysis of only the Sardinian sample revealed a partition into five subpopulations. However, two different Bayesian approaches to the assignment of individuals, accounting for different possible source populations, produced consistent results and proved the admixed nature of the Sardinian population. Indeed, introgressive hybridization with boars from multiple sources (Italian peninsula, central Europe, domestic stocks) was detected, although poor evidence of crossbreeding with free-ranging domestic pigs was unexpectedly found. After excluding individuals who carried exotic genes, the population re-entered Hardy-Weinberg proportions and a clear population structure with three subpopulations emerged. Therefore, the inclusion of introgressed animals in the Bayesian analysis implied an overestimation of the number of clusters. Nonetheless, two of them were consistent between analyses and corresponded to highly pure stocks, located, respectively, in north-west and south-west Sardinia. This work shows the critical importance of including adequate reference samples when studying the genetic structure of managed wild populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European wild boar is an important game species, subjected to local extinctions and translocations in the past, and currently enormously and worryingly expanding in some areas where management is urgently required. Understanding the relative roles of ancient and recent events in shaping the genetic structure of this species is therefore not only an interesting scientific issue, but it represents also the basis for addressing future management strategies. In addition, several pig breeds descend from the European wild boar, but the geographical location of the domestication area(s) and the possible introgression of pig genomes into wild populations are still open questions. Here, we analysed the genetic variation in different wild boar populations in Europe. Ten polymorphic microsatellites were typed in 252 wild boars and the mtDNA control region was sequenced in a subset of 145 individuals. Some samples from different pig breeds were also analysed. Our results, which were obtained considering also 612 published mtDNA sequences, suggest that (i) most populations are similarly differentiated, but the major discontinuity is found along the Alps; (ii) except for the Italian populations, European wild boars show the signature of a postglacial demographic expansion; (iii) Italian populations seem to preserve a high proportion of preglaciation diversity; (iv) the demographic decline which occurred in some areas in the last few centuries did not produce a noticeable reduction of genetic variation; (v) signs of human-mediated gene flow among populations are weak, although in some regions the effects of translocations are detectable and a low degree of pig introgression can be identified; (vi) the hypothesis of an independent domestication centre in Italy is not supported by our data, which in turn confirm that Central European wild boar might have represented an important source for domestic breeds. We can therefore conclude that recent human activities had a limited effect on the wild boar genetic structure. It follows that areas with high variation and differentiation represent natural reservoirs of genetic diversity to be protected avoiding translocations. In this context controlling some populations by hunting is not expected to affect significantly genetic variation in this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestication promotes the emergence of novel phenotypic and behavioural traits in domesticated animals compared to their wild ancestors. We analysed variation at the melanocortin receptor I ( MC1R ) and nuclear receptor subfamily 6, group A, member 1 ( NR6A1 ) genes in European wild boar populations, two loci which have been under strong artificial selection during domestication. These loci influence coat colour and number of vertebrae, respectively. A total of 145 wild boars were sampled throughout Europe, to evaluate frequency and spatial distribution of domestic alleles and patterns of hybridization between wild and domestic forms. Most of the wild boars (94%) were homozygous for the European wild-type (E + ) MC1R allele. We did not observe any synonymous substitution in the European E + allele, confirming its monomorphism even in areas known to be hotspots of wild boar genetic diversity. The remaining wild boars (6%) showed genetic introgression of three different European domestic alleles. No Asian MC1R allele was found in our sample. Furthermore, domestic NR6A1 alleles were observed in 6% of wild boars. Considering jointly the two loci analyzed, 11% of boars, sampled all over Europe, showed signs of recent or past introgression in their genome. These data agree with previous investigations on other molecular markers, confirming that, compared to Asian conspecifics, European wild boars have a relatively low genetic diversity, which is locally increased by the introgression of allelic variants from the domestic counterpart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]