Divergence time estimates of East Asian and European pigs based on multiple near complete mitochondrial DNA sequences

Abstract

The time since the divergence of European and East Asian domestic pigs and wild boars has been estimated in several phylogenetic analyses, generally based on partial mitochondrial sequences or on a small number of complete mtDNA sequences. In the present study, we obtained a refined estimate of this divergence time based on a set of 32 near-complete mtDNA sequences from wild and domestic pigs of European and Asian types, including 14 new and 18 previously published sequences. A weighted average for different functional mtDNA components resulted in an estimate of 746,000 YBP for the divergence of Asian-type from European-type pigs. In addition, our data allowed us to estimate a divergence time between wild and domestic European pigs of 8500 YBP. However, it must be considered cautiously, as most of the estimated values of this sequence divergence were not different from zero, and isolation between wild and domestic pigs has never been complete.