Differentiating Pigs from Wild Boars Based on NR6A1 and MC1R Gene Polymorphisms

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Wild boar meat is much more expensive than pork. Therefore, there are cases when pork is added to wild boar meat products, but this information is not included on the product label. Currently, there is no fully reliable method that would allow the identification of wild boar and domestic swine products. In this study, we tested the possibility of distinguishing two subspecies using polymorphisms within the MC1R and NR6A1 genes. For this purpose, we used two techniques commonly used in molecular biology, PCR-RFLP and Real-time PCR. ABSTRACT: This preliminary study aimed to differentiate domestic pigs from wild boars based on MC1R and NR6A1 polymorphisms and to identify admixture between these genomes. We studied samples obtained from wild boars from two regions of Poland and five pig breeds: Polish Landrace, Polish Large White, Złotnicka White, Pulawska and Duroc. Along the MC1R gene sequence, we identified four polymorphic loci comprising three codons. The “wild type” allele was primarily found in wild boar but also in the Duroc and Złotnicka White breeds. Non-wild type alleles were identified in the vast majority of domestic pig samples and in two wild boar samples. Based on MC1R profiles, we conducted a population study, and revealed admixture between both genomes using STRUCTURE and NETWORK Software. Interestingly, an allelic discrimination assay with NR6A1 g.748C > T TaqMan probes revealed a clear separation of samples into two groups: wild boar samples representing the C allele and domestic breeds representing the T allele. Based on the obtained results, we conclude that NR6A1 g.748C > T is an effective marker for differentiating between wild boars and domestic pigs, where this is supported by MC1R data, to identify admixed profiles. We recommend that a larger sample of genomes is studied to verify this method.