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Inferring the origin and genetic diversity of the introduced wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations in Argentina: an approach from mitochondrial markers

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Abstract

The Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758) was introduced into Argentina at the beginning of the twentieth century when individuals from Europe were taken to La Pampa province for hunting purposes. Starting from there, a dispersal process began due to the invasive characteristics of the species and to human-mediated translocations. The main objective of this study was to characterize for the first time, the phylogenetic relationships among wild boars from Argentina with those from Uruguay, Europe, Asia, and the Near East, along with diverse domestic pig breeds in order to corroborate the historical information about the origin of the local populations. To this end, we used mitochondrial Control Region and Cytochrome b sequences from sampled Argentinian wild boars and retrieved from GenBank. The results showed that the majority of the Argentinian wild boar populations descend from European lineages, in particular of the E1 clade, according to the historical records. Remarkably, the population of El Palmar National Park had Asian origin that could be attributed to hybridization with local domestic pigs or to unrecorded translocations. Finally, genetic diversity in Argentinian populations was lower than in Europe and Uruguay meaning that wild boar in Argentina is still under the influence of founder effect and has experienced minor genetic introgression from domestic pigs, representing in this sense a reservoir of the original wild boar genetic variability.

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Acknowledgements

We thank El Palmar National Park rangers, Guillermo Lier, Eduardo Jones, and Pablo Giorgis. We also express our gratitude to Fabian Tittarelli, Lautaro Córdoba, Lucía Curti, Gabriel Castresana, Pablo Rojas, Marina Winter, and Hernán Amendola for their help in collecting wild boar samples and to Alejandra Canalis for the English revisions. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la provincia de Buenos Aires (UNNOBA), Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la provincia de Buenos Aires (CICPBA), and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) provided financial support for the present research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Bioinvestigaciones (CeBio), Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNNOBA-CICBA)/Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires CIT NOBA (UNNOBA-CONICET), Pergamino, 2700, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Mara I. Sagua, C. E. Figueroa, D. B. Acosta, G. P. Fernández & Mariano L. Merino

  2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Mara I. Sagua, C. E. Figueroa & D. B. Acosta

  3. Gestión Ambiental/Ecología, Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Administración, Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche, 1888, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    B. N. Carpinetti

  4. Escuela de Producción, Tecnología y Ambiente, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Sede Atlántica, 8500, Viedma, Río Negro, Argentina

    D. Birochio

  5. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (CICPBA), La Plata, Argentina

    Mariano L. Merino

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  1. Mara I. Sagua
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  2. C. E. Figueroa
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  3. D. B. Acosta
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  4. G. P. Fernández
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  5. B. N. Carpinetti
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  6. D. Birochio
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  7. Mariano L. Merino
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Correspondence to Mara I. Sagua or Mariano L. Merino.

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Communicated by: Karol Zub

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Sagua, M.I., Figueroa, C.E., Acosta, D.B. et al. Inferring the origin and genetic diversity of the introduced wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations in Argentina: an approach from mitochondrial markers. Mamm Res 63, 467–476 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-018-0380-2

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