title: Genetic structure of wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations from East Asia based on microsatellite loci analyses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Wild boar, Sus scrofa, is an extant wild ancestor of the domestic pig as an agro-economically important mammal. Wild boar has a worldwide distribution with its geographic origin in Southeast Asia, but genetic diversity and genetic structure of wild boar in East Asia are poorly understood. To characterize the pattern and amount of genetic variation and population structure of wild boar in East Asia, we genotyped and analyzed microsatellite loci for a total of 238 wild boar specimens from ten locations across six countries in East and Southeast Asia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our data indicated that wild boar populations in East Asia are genetically diverse and structured, showing a significant correlation of genetic distance with geographic distance and implying a low level of gene flow at a regional scale. Bayesian-based clustering analysis was indicative of seven inferred genetic clusters in which wild boars in East Asia are geographically structured. The level of genetic diversity was relatively high in wild boars from Southeast Asia, compared with those from Northeast Asia. This gradient pattern of genetic diversity is consistent with an assumed ancestral population of wild boar in Southeast Asia. Genetic evidences from a relationship tree and structure analysis suggest that wild boar in Jeju Island, South Korea have a distinct genetic background from those in mainland Korea.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results reveal a diverse pattern of genetic diversity and the existence of genetic differentiation among wild boar populations inhabiting East Asia. This study highlights the potential contribution of genetic variation of wild boar to the high genetic diversity of local domestic pigs during domestication in East Asia.
authors.forename: Sung Kyoung
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Ji-Eun
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Young-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Mi-Sook
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Inna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Voloshina
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Myslenkov
authors.forename: Jang Geun
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Tae-Hun
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Nickolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Markov
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Seryodkin
authors.forename: Naotaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishiguro
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Ya-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. hanglee@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Hang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyung Seok
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005202:Asia, Eastern; D051456:Gene Flow; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000235:genetics*