Kristina Gvozdanović

Análise genética de raças suínas autóctones da Croácia através do uso de microssatélites como marcadores

Black Slavonian pig (BS) and Turopolje pig (TP) are two Croatian autochthonous pig breeds. At the beginning of this century attempts were made to preserve and re-establish them, which included also employment of the genetic methods for studying genetic characteristics of both breeds. The number of Black Slavonian breed sows was increased from 237 in 2001 to 1305 last year, while the number of Turopolje breed sows rose from 45 to 132 in the same period. A set of 18 microsatellite markers was used to genotype 20 BS pigs, 20 TP pigs and 20 wild boars. The basic statistical analysis included number of samples, number of alleles for each locus, expected and observed heterozygosity, FIS and their statistical significance FISsign. In observed populations, a relatively high variety of loci was present. Average heterozygosity was between 0.35 and 0.64. The average fixation index (FST) was 0.24. Multilocus FST values indicated that around 24% of the total genetic variation was explained by population differences, with the remaining 78% corresponding to differences among individuals within population. Genetic distances between populations were made with PCA method and it was noticed that studied populations are clearly defined. The analysis of population structure indicates no admixture among analysed breeds. However, some substructuring in the Black Slavonian pig population was observed. Results confirmed usefulness of microsatellites for studying genetic diversity among Croatian autochthonous pig breeds, but for obtaining more accurate results, a study involving larger number of animals and other related breeds would be required.

Genetic diversity of autochthonous pig breeds analyzed by microsatellite markers and mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence polymorphism

Abstract The evaluation of the genetic structure of autochthonous pig breeds is very important for conservation of local pig breeds and preservation of diversity. In this study, 18 microsatellite loci were used to detect genetic relationship between autochthonous pig breeds [Black Slavonian (BS), Turopolje pig (TP), and Croatian wild boar] and to determine phylogenetic relationship among Croatian autochthonous pig breeds and certain Asian and European pigs using the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop sequence polymorphism. Relatively high degree of genetic variation was found between the observed populations. The analysis of mtDNA showed that haplotypes of the studied pig populations are different from the other European and Chinese haplotypes. BS pigs showed some similarities with Mangalitsa and Duroc breeds. The genetic distances of TP can be explained by high degree of inbreeding during the past century. Despite the European origin of Croatian pig breeds with some impact of Chinese breeds in the past, the results of present study show that genetic diversity is still pronounced within investigated breeds. Furthermore, the genetic diversity is even more pronounced between Croatian breeds and other European and Chinese pig breeds. Thus, conservation of Croatian pig breeds will contribute to overall genetic diversity preservation of pig breeds.