title: Population structure and genome characterization of local pig breeds in Russia, Belorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is generally accepted that domestication of pigs took place in multiple locations across Eurasia; the breeds that originated in Europe and Asia have been well studied. However, the genetic structure of pig breeds from Russia, Belorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, which represent large geographical areas and diverse climatic zones in Eurasia, remains largely unknown.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study provides the first genomic survey of 170 pigs representing 13 breeds from Russia, Belorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine; 288 pigs from six Chinese and seven European breeds were also included for comparison. Our findings show that the 13 novel breeds tested derived mainly from European pigs through the complex admixture of Large White, Landrace, Duroc, Hampshire and other breeds, and that they display no geographic structure based on genetic distance. We also found a considerable Asian contribution to the miniature Siberian pigs (Minisib breed) from Russia. Apart from the Minisib, Urzhum, Ukrainian Spotted Steppe and Ukrainian White Steppe breeds, which may have undergone intensive inbreeding, the breeds included in this study showed relatively high genetic diversity and low levels of homozygosity compared to the Chinese indigenous pig breeds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides the first genomic overview of the population structure and genetic diversity of 13 representative pig breeds from Russia, Belorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine; this information will be useful for the preservation and management of these breeds.
authors.affiliation: L.K. Ernst Institute for Animal Husbandry, Dubrovitzy 60, Podolsk district, Moscow region, Russia, 142132. traspovalex@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Aleksei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Traspov
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetics, Breeding and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, People's Republic of China. wenjiangdeng@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Wenjiang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: L.K. Ernst Institute for Animal Husbandry, Dubrovitzy 60, Podolsk district, Moscow region, Russia, 142132. kostolan@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kostyunina
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetics, Breeding and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, People's Republic of China. 945685738@qq.com.
authors.forename: Jiuxiu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Siberian Research Institute for Animal Husbandry, Russian Agricultural Academy, Novosibirsk, Russia, 63050. true_genetic@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Kirill
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shatokhin
authors.affiliation: Mykolayiv National Agrarian University, 9, Paryzka Komuna Str., Mykolayiv, 54020, Ukraine. lugovoy79@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lugovoy
authors.affiliation: L.K. Ernst Institute for Animal Husbandry, Dubrovitzy 60, Podolsk district, Moscow region, Russia, 142132. n_zinovieva@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zinovieva
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetics, Breeding and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, People's Republic of China. binyang@live.cn.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetics, Breeding and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, People's Republic of China. lushenghuang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Lusheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D005061:Europe, Eastern; D014644:Genetic Variation; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods; D005838:Genotype; D007178:Inbreeding; D056186:Metagenomics; D010802:Phylogeny; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*