Genetic diversity of eleven European pig breeds

Abstract

-A set of eleven pig breeds originating from six European countries, and including a small sample of wild pigs, was chosen for this study of genetic diversity. Diversity was evaluated on the basis of 18 microsatellite markers typed over a total of 483 DNA samples collected. Average breed heterozygosity varied from 0.35 to 0.60. Genotypic frequencies generally agreed with Hardy-Weinberg expectations, apart from the German Landrace and Schwäbisch-Hällisches breeds, which showed significantly reduced heterozygosity. Breed differentiation was significant as shown by the high among-breed fixation index (overall F ST = 0.27), and confirmed by the clustering based on the genetic distances between individuals, which grouped essentially all individuals in 11 clusters corresponding to the 11 breeds. The genetic distances between breeds were first used to construct phylogenetic trees. The trees indicated that a genetic drift model might explain the divergence of the two German * Correspondence and reprints E-mail: glaval@toulouse.inra.fr 188 G. Laval et al.breeds, but no reliable phylogeny could be inferred among the remaining breeds. The same distances were also used to measure the global diversity of the set of breeds considered, and to evaluate the marginal loss of diversity attached to each breed. In that respect, the French Basque breed appeared to be the most "unique" in the set considered. This study, which remains to be extended to a larger set of European breeds, indicates that using genetic distances between breeds of farm animals in a classical taxonomic approach may not give clear resolution, but points to their usefulness in a prospective evaluation of diversity.genetic diversity / molecular marker / conservation / pig / European breed Résumé -Diversité génétique de onze races porcines européennes. Un ensemble de onze races porcines en provenance de six pays européens, et incluant un petit echantillon de sangliers, aété choisi pour uneétude de diversité génétique. Cette diversité aétéévaluée sur la base de 18 marqueurs microsatellites typés sur un total de 483échantillons d'ADN. Les racesétudiées manifestent un taux d'hétérozygotie allant de 0,35à 0,60. Les locus sont enéquililibre de Hardy-Weinbergà l'exception du cas des races allemandes Landrace et Schwäbisch-Hällisches, qui manifestent un déficit d'hétérozygotes. L'indice de différenciation entre races estélevé (F ST global de 0,27) et les distances génétiques entre individus permettent de les regrouper pratiquement en 11 ensembles distincts, correspondant aux 11 races considérées. Les distances génétiques entre races ont d'abordété utilisées pour construire des arbres phylogénétiques. Ces arbres suggèrent qu'un modèle de dérive génétique pourrait expliquer la divergence des deux races allemandes, mais aucune phylogénie fiable n'a puêtreétablie entre les races restantes. Les mêmes distances ont ensuiteété utilisées pour mesurer la diversité génétique globale de l'ensemble etévaluer la perte marginale de diversité associéeà chacune des racesétudiée...

Genome-Wide Footprints of Pig Domestication and Selection Revealed through Massive Parallel Sequencing of Pooled DNA

“…Overall, and in agreement with previous studies [29], the Pietrain breed demonstrated the lowest which is indicative of a small effective population size compared to other breeds and a low contribution to the genetic diversity of the Sus scrofa species [30]. It is worth noting that the wild boar population had low values of as compared to the Large White, Landrace, and Duroc breeds.…”

Genomic Diversity in Pig (Sus scrofa) and its Comparison with Human and other Livestock

“…Observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.35 to 0.60, with an average ~ 0.5 across 17 autosomal chromosomes in 11 European pig breeds [25]. These values were similar to those in Chinese populations, ranging from 0.429 to 0.677 [19-20].…”

Comparison of Muscle Transcriptome between Pigs with Divergent Meat Quality Phenotypes Identifies Genes Related to Muscle Metabolism and Structure

“…Regarding genetic background, the B pig is an indigenous breed characterized as “unique” among 11 breeds belonging to seven European countries [5]. Despite an increasing number of publications focusing on gene expression in relation with pork quality [11], the present study is the first transcriptome analysis of this non-selected and high meat quality pig breed.…”

“…LW is the most predominant breed used in modern pig industry, with high lean meat productivity, low fat content and high daily gain, but with standard meat quality. By contrast, B is a local, indigenous breed with low lean meat and high fat contents, high meat quality characteristics, and which is genetically distant from other European pig breeds [5], [6]. Furthermore, the present transcriptome analysis is the first one undertaken on the high meat quality B breed, despite the increasing number of publications focusing on gene expression in relation with pork quality [7]–[11].…”