Genomic insights into the demographic history and local adaptation of wild boars across Eurasia
Wild boars exhibit genetic and phenotypic diversity shaped by migrations and local adaptations. Their expansion across Eurasia, especially in Central Asia, remains underexplored. Here, we present newly sequenced whole-genome data of 47 wild boars from Eastern Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, combined with 49 existing genomes, creating a comprehensive dataset of 96 individuals. Our analyses show that Asian wild boars and Southeast Asian Suids split ∼3.6 million years ago (mya), with Central Asian and Southern Chinese ancestors diverging ∼1.8 mya. The split between Central Asian and European-Near East ancestors occurred ∼0.9 mya, followed by a European-Near East divergence ∼0.6 mya. We identify signatures of local adaptation in Central Asian populations, including two positively selected variants in LPIN1, associated with lipid metabolism, and a missense mutation in ALPK2, linked to meat traits. These findings provide insights into wild boar dispersal and adaptation and shed light on domestic pig breeding.
Authors
- Chengyi Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0488-4718)
- Jianhai Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0093-2003)
- Hongwei Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9373-5166)
- Martien A. M. Groenen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0484-4545)
- Lijing Bai
- Shuhong Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3997-2320)
- Zishuai Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4496-8430)
- Ruimin Qiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2648-6227)
- Pan Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0590-8758)
- Di Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5838-0219)
- Kui Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4187-4276)
- Yanlin Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4002-443X)
- Tao Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0793-5664)
- Dongjie Zhang
- Zixin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0757-616X)
- Ole Madsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8082-7881)
Institutions
- Shihezi University (CN)
- Huazhong Agricultural University (CN)
- Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen (CN)
- Animal Science Research Institute (CN)
- Jiangsu Agri-animal Husbandry Vocational College (CN)
- Centre for BioSystems Genomics (NL)
- GCI Science & Technology (China) (CN)
- Henan Agricultural University (CN)
- Yangzhou University (CN)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cell Genomics
- Published
- 2025-07-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100954
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.09
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Scholarship Council
- Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province
- Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
- Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality