Original scientific paper
Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Wild Boars from the Istria and Cres Island
Vlatka Cubric-Curik
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Breeding, Svetošimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Marina Atlija
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Breeding, Svetošimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Nikica Šprem
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department for Fisheries, Beekeeping and Special Zoology, Svetošimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Ino Curik
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Breeding, Svetošimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The aim of study was to analyze the nucleotide diversity of mitochondrial DNA control region (CR–mtDNA) of 33 wild boars hunted in Istria and Cres Island (Croatia) in order to prove the presence of clade E2 haplotypes outside the Italian Peninsula and Sardinia. Outside of Italy haplotypes from clade E2 have been found only in Istria (Pupcina Cave) on archaeological samples dating to 9000 years BC. Among 21 haplotypes found on a 428–bp sequence fragment representing European wild boars, with 227 sequences additionally retrieved from the GeneBank, our wild boars were assigned in two haplotypes classified in clade E1. Two wild boars, from Oprtalj and Grožnjan, were distributed in the haplotype H2 while the other 31 samples were distributed in the haplotype H6. On the analyzed fragment, observed haplotypes were two (T→C at 15714 and 15758) and one (T→C at 15758) transversions remote from the reference sequence reported in the GenBank under accession number AJ002189 (Ursing and Arnason, 1998). The H2 and H6 haplotypes were both previously found in European wild boars, most frequently in haplotypes from Portugal and Spain. In conclusion, the results obtained were concordant to the hypothesis that clade E2 haplotypes are indigenous to Italy and Sardinia. According to the maternal origin, the Istrian and Cres Island wild boars are close to the Gorizia region (north–east Italy) population as well as to wild boars from Portugal and Spain.
Keywords
wild boar; mitochondrial DNA; nucleotide diversity; Istria region; Cres Island
Hrčak ID:
72107
URI
Publication date:
4.10.2011.
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