The Green-legged Partridgelike (GP) fowl, an old native Polish breed, is characterised by reseda green-coloured shanks rather than yellow, white, slate or black commonly observed across most domestic breeds of chicken. Here, we investigate the origin, genetic relationships and structure of the GP fowl using mtDNA D-loop sequencing and genome-wide SNP analysis. Genome-wide association analysis between breeds enables us to verify the genetic control of the reseda green shank phenotype, a defining trait for the breed. Two mtDNA D-loop haplogroups and three autosomal genetic backgrounds are revealed. Significant associations of SNPs on chromosomes GGA24 and GGAZ indicate that the reseda green leg phenotype is associated with recessive alleles linked to the W and Id loci. Our results provide new insights into the genetic history of European chicken, indicating an admixd origin of East European traditional breeds of chicken on the continent, as supported by the presence of the reseda green phenotype and the knowledge that the GP fowl as a breed was developed before the advent of commercial stocks.

Our objective was to identify and evaluate mitochondrial diversity of wild pigs in the United States (U.S.). We obtained tissue samples from 81 individual pigs in 30 U.S. states and amplified a 403 base‐pair region of mitochondrial DNA. We then downloaded overlapping sequences (n = 904) from public repositories to create a global reference. We used parsimony and Bayesian techniques to evaluate phylogenetic relationships, and we used origins of published sequences from Eurasian wild boar to establish a phylogeographic reference. We then compared gene and nucleotide diversity measures for introduced pigs in North America with those of domestic swine, Eurasian wild boar, and feral pigs within broad‐scale geographic groupings. We identified 15 haplotypes for introduced pigs, representing wild and domestic animals from >30 countries spanning the indigenous range of S. scrofa. Mitochondrial diversity measures and phylogenetic relationships indicated a strong association between introduced pigs and European domestic breeds, reflecting the known history of human colonization, trade, and settlement in the United States. Based on the geographic distribution of haplotypes in North America, we found that range expansion is a product of translocation from historical populations and introduction from new genetic sources. Finally, haplotype network analyses provided evidence of past demographic expansions within lineages, contributing to observed mtDNA variation among introduced pigs in North America. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) have invaded most of the United States and continue to expand throughout North America. Given the ecological and economic threats posed by increasing feral swine abundance, it is imperative to develop an understanding of their patterns of natural range expansion and human-mediated introductions. Towards this goal, we used molecular markers to elucidate the genetic structure of feral swine populations throughout the United States and evaluated the association between historical introductions and contemporary patterns of genetic organization. We used STRUCTURE and discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) to delineate genetic clusters for 959 individuals genotyped at 88 single nucleotide polymorphism loci. We identified 10 and 12 genetic clusters for the 2 clustering approaches, respectively. We observed strong agreement in clusters across approaches, with both describing clusters having strong geographic association at regional levels reflecting past introduction and range expansion patterns. In addition, we evaluated patterns of isolation by distance to test for and estimate spatial scaling of population structure within western, central, and eastern regions of North America. We found contrasting spatial patterns of genetic relatedness among regions, suggesting differences in the invasion process, likely as a result of regional variation in landscape heterogeneity and the influence of humanmediated introductions. Our results indicate that molecular analyses of population genetic structure can provide reliable insights into the invasion processes of feral swine, thus providing a useful basis for management focused on minimizing continued range expansion by this problematic species. Ó 2018 The Wildlife Society.

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