Abstract
BackgroundIt 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.ResultsThis 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.ConclusionsThis 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.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12711-016-0196-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
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
Genetic distances and population structures Most of the pig breeds included in this study originated from west Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine, which were the main centers of agricultural production in the Soviet Union, since pig breeding in the eastern and Siberian regions of Russia was largely hampered by harsh climatic conditions
The first axis of the Principal component analysis (PCA) plot of the 13 breeds (Fig. 1a) clearly separate the miniature Siberian swine (Minisib) breed from the other breeds (Fig. 1b), which indicates that the genetic distance between the Minisib breed and the other 12 breeds is large
Summary
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. 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. The pig was independently domesticated in China and Europe approximately 9000 years ago [1,2,3] and has undergone subsequent environmental and artificial selection, which contributed to the formation of many breeds with different global characteristics. Pig breeding activity began in the late nineteenth century and mainly took place in west Russia, north Caucasus, the Baltic States, Belorussia and Ukraine. Many of the pig breeds that were formed and registered in the mid-twentieth century were generated by crossbreeding multiple
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