Contemporary Genetic Structure, Phylogeography and Past Demographic Processes of Wild Boar Sus scrofa Population in Central and Eastern Europe

Vadim E Sidorovich,Tom Gilbert,Mikhail Kolesnikov,Tomasz Borowik,Bogumiła Jędrzejewska,Massimo Scandura,András Jávor,Aleksei N Bunevich,Szilvia Kusza,Tomasz Podgórski

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091401

Abstract

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is one of the most widely distributed mammals in Europe. Its demography was affected by various events in the past and today populations are increasing throughout Europe. We examined genetic diversity, structure and population dynamics of wild boar in Central and Eastern Europe. MtDNA control region (664 bp) was sequenced in 254 wild boar from six countries (Poland, Hungary, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and the European part of Russia). We detected 16 haplotypes, all known from previous studies in Europe; 14 of them belonged to European 1 (E1) clade, including 13 haplotypes from E1-C and one from E1-A lineages. Two haplotypes belonged respectively to the East Asian and the Near Eastern clade. Both haplotypes were found in Russia and most probably originated from the documented translocations of wild boar. The studied populations showed moderate haplotype (0.714±0.023) and low nucleotide diversity (0.003±0.002). SAMOVA grouped the genetic structuring of Central and Eastern European wild boar into three subpopulations, comprising of: (1) north-eastern Belarus and the European part of Russia, (2) Poland, Ukraine, Moldova and most of Belarus, and (3) Hungary. The multimodal mismatch distribution, Fu's Fs index, Bayesian skyline plot and the high occurrence of shared haplotypes among populations did not suggest strong demographic fluctuations in wild boar numbers in the Holocene and pre-Holocene times. This study showed relatively weak genetic diversity and structure in Central and Eastern European wild boar populations and underlined gaps in our knowledge on the role of southern refugia and demographic processes shaping genetic diversity of wild boar in this part of Europe.

Highlights

The wild boar Sus scrofa originated in South-East Asia, where the genus Sus differentiated about 3 million years ago and from where S. scrofa spread throughout Asia, Europe and North Africa [1]
The present distribution of wild boar in Europe was primarily shaped by the late Pleistocene glaciations that forced wild boars to take refuge in southern areas from where the species re-colonised the continent [2], reaching as far north as 60uN in western Russia [4]
Continental Europe is populated by wild boar belonging to two major haplogroups; clade European 1 (E1) is widespread throughout the entire continent and clade E2 is restricted to the Italian Peninsula, Sardinia and Croatia [5,2]

Summary

Introduction

The wild boar Sus scrofa originated in South-East Asia, where the genus Sus differentiated about 3 million years ago and from where S. scrofa spread throughout Asia, Europe and North Africa [1]. The present distribution of wild boar in Europe was primarily shaped by the late Pleistocene glaciations that forced wild boars to take refuge in southern areas (the Iberian Peninsula and south-western France, the Italian Peninsula, and the Balkan region from Greece to Croatia and Slovenia [3]) from where the species re-colonised the continent [2], reaching as far north as 60uN in western Russia [4]. It is, not clear which of these sources of refuge contributed the most to the re-establishment of the current population in Europe, especially in its eastern part. Other clusters belonging to E1 haplogroups (W1-W6) have recently been discovered in the Southern Balkan region (Greece and SE Bulgaria) and their occurrence seems to be restricted to that area [6]

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