Signatures of introgression from both non-Italian wild boar and domestic breeds were very limited. Conversely, an unexpected similarity was found among Apennine populations, even at high distances.

The most diverging populations in Castelporziano Presidential Estate and Maremma Regional Park can be the result of long-lasting isolation, reduced population size and genetic drift. Overall, a lower heterozygosity was found in the Italian population than in the other European regions. Pairwise F ST values, multivariate analysis and assignment procedures indicated that Italian populations were highly differentiated from all the other analyzed European wild boar populations. Genomic data from 134 wild boar sampled in six areas of peninsular Italy and in Sardinia were gathered using the Illumina Porcine SNP60 BeadChip (60k Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms – SNPs) and compared with reference genotypes from European specimens and from domestic pigs (both commercial and Italian local breeds), using multivariate and maximum-likelihood approaches. In this study, exploiting the availability of the well-mapped porcine genome, we applied genomic tools to explore genome-wide variability in Italian wild boar populations, investigate their genetic structure and detect signatures of possible introgression from domestic pigs and non-native wild boar. Anthropic manipulations have strongly affected also Italian populations through heavy hunting, translocations and reintroductions that might have deeply modified their original gene pools. In the past decades, most European wild boar ( Sus scrofa) populations were heavily managed by humans. These changes can jeopardize native gene pools in different ways, leading either to genetic homogenization, or conversely, to the split into genetically divergent demes. Human activities can globally modify natural ecosystems determining ecological, demographic and range perturbations for several animal species.

4Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.3Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia.2Unit for Conservation Genetics (BIO-CGE), Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy.1Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.Massimo Scandura 1*, Giulia Fabbri 1, Romolo Caniglia 2, Laura Iacolina 3,4, Federica Mattucci 2, Chiara Mengoni 2, Giulio Pante 1, Marco Apollonio 1 and Nadia Mucci 2

Descent pig and hog filest