Contemporary genetic structure, phylogeography and past demographic processes of wild boar Sus scrofa population in Central and Eastern Europe

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 12;9(3):e91401. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091401. eCollection 2014.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Conserved Sequence
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics
  • Europe, Eastern
  • Genetic Variation
  • Haplotypes
  • Phylogeography
  • Sus scrofa / genetics*

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (grant no. NN304-253935), BIOCONSUS (Research Potential in Conservation and Sustainable Management of Biodiversity, 7th Framework Programme contract no. 245737), BIOGEAST (Biodiversity of East-European and Siberian large mammals on the level of genetic variation of populations, 7th Framework Programme contract no. 247652), and supported by Hungarian State Eötvös fellowship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.