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Pigs, the principal sources of meat for humans, have been crucial to cultures throughout Asia, especially in China and SE Asia, since prehistoric times. Several archaeological studies have used pig remains to elucidate the origin, culture, social evolution, and migration patterns of Asiatic people. However, ancient DNA of these remains in central SE Asia, and in Thailand in particular, has not been investigated to test the historical theories resulting from these archaeological studies. Here, we investigate ancient DNA of pig remains excavated from Pong Takhop archaeological site, central Thailand aged at least 3000 BP. The phylogenetic tree we obtained suggests that ancient Thai pigs were descended from ancient Chinese pigs. The tree topology further suggests that these ancient pigs had multiple origins, which were probably generated by multiple waves of migration of ancient Chinese pigs from 4000-3000 BP. Most of these ancient Thai pigs left their lineages as modern Thai pigs observed in northern Thailand. The contrasting cluster of pure modern Thai pigs suggested that these pigs might be descended from non-Chinese ancestors, possibly the native SE Asian ancestors.

A multiplex PCR assay was developed to identify widespread poison-containing puffer fishes of the genus Lagocephalus: L. lunaris, L. spadiceus and L. inermis, using a novel KUGEN_ILSspec primer set which is specific for 12S ribosomal RNA (12S rRNA) and Cytochrome b (Cyt b) genes. KUGEN_ILSspec set is composed of fish positive-amplified primers that produced a 289-bp fragment while L. lunaris-, L. spadiceus-and L. inermis-specific primers produced 123-, 196-and 493-bp fragments, respectively. The sensitivity of this primer set was found to be high as it was capable of amplifying targeted DNA at concentrations as low as 1 ng/µL. Moreover, the primer set was shown to amplify intact DNA and species-specific fragments from heat-processed food. Consequently, multiplex PCR technique in combination with KUGEN_ILSspec primer set could offer an effective measure for detecting poisonous puffer fish contamination in both fresh and processed fish products, which will greatly aid in public health control and law enforcing endeavors.

Population genetic structure of Varuna litterata living along the coast of Thailand were examined in this study. The samples were collected from 3 coastal regions: The Andaman sea

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