Mitochondrial DNA diversity in wild boar from the Primorsky Krai Region (East Russia)

We have studied the cytochrome B gene and control region DNA variability in 14 wild boars from the Primorsky Region, in the far east corner of Russia. Variability was low (π = 0.00248 overall) compared with the usual estimates in these loci, indicating that this is a rather closed population. Seven haplotypes were found, and one was identical to a Chinese wild boar. Phylogeographically, the sequences clustered among several Asian clades, primarily Chinese domestic pigs and Japanese and Chinese wild boars, and are positioned within the D2 clade reported by Larson et al. [Science307, 2005; 1618]. Although North Korean pigs should be studied, our data suggest that the Primorsky mtDNA signature is absent from domestic pigs. Sequences are available through GenBank identifiers HM010461–HM010488.Y.R. was recipient of an MSc fellowship from the IAMZ (Spain) and is currently funded by the MICINN PhD programme (Spain). This work was funded by the Consolider programme and AGL2007-65563-C02-01/GAN grants (MICINN) to MPE.Peer reviewe