engleski

Genetic diversity in the Turopolje pig breed

Turopolje pig is an autochthonous Croatian breed. Historical evidence suggests that it originated through wild boar domestification and partly from other European breeds. Presently, there are only around 250 surviving Turopolje pigs, and this breed is, according to FAO, critically endangered. As a part of an effort to preserve domestic animal genetic biodiversity, a conservation project for this breed is being carried out in Croatia. Microsatellite genotyping and mitochondrial D-loop (hypervariable control region) sequencing were the methods used in this research. Ten loci were chosen from the list of microsatellite markers recommended by FAO for this type of studies on pigs. The aim was to determine the degree of genetic diversity in Turopolje pig and to compare it with other pig breeds. Genomic DNA was isolated from 35 purebred Turopolje pigs and 10 hybrid pigs (Turopolje and commercial pig crosses). Microsatellite loci were amplified by PCR using specific primers. Reverse primer in each pair was fluorescently labeled with Cy5. Sizes of the resulting DNA fragments were determined using ALFexpress DNA sequencer. Part of the mitochondrial D-loop (557 base pairs) was also amplified by PCR and directly sequenced. The results for 45 analyzed samples show low heterozygosity on microsatellite loci as well as the domination of a single mitochondrial haplotype. This finding is in accordance with our expectations because Turoplje pig recently experienced a severe demographic bottleneck event.

genetic diversity; turopolje pig

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