Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Shandong indigenous pig breeds are important Chinese pig resources. Their progressive population decline in recent decades has attracted attention towards their conservation. Conservation genetics of these indigenous breeds are essential for developing a conservation and utilization scheme. METHODS: A high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (HD-SNP) chip-based comparative analysis of genetic characteristics was performed for seven Shandong indigenous pig breeds in the context of five Western commercial breeds. RESULTS: The results showed that Shandong indigenous pig breeds varied greatly in genetic diversity, effective population size, inbreeding level, and genetic distance with the Western commercial breeds. Specifically, Laiwu and Dapulian displayed low genetic diversity, and had a genetically distant relationship with the Western commercial breeds (average F statistics [FST] value of 0.3226 and 0.2666, respectively). Contrastingly, the other five breeds (Yantai, Licha, Yimeng, Wulain, and Heigai) displayed high genetic diversity within breed and had some extent of mixture pattern with the Western commercial breeds, especially Duroc and Landrace (FST values from 0.1043 to 0.2536). Furthermore, intensive gene flow was discovered among the seven Shandong indigenous breeds, particularly Wulian, Licha, and Heigai, as indicated by the large cluster formed in the principal component analysis scatterplot and small population differentiation (average of 0.1253) among them. CONCLUSION: Our study advances the understanding of genetic characteristics of Shandong indigenous breeds and provides essential information for developing an appropriate conservation and utilization scheme for these breeds.