BackgroundIt is generally accepted that domestication of pigs took place in multiple locations across Eurasia; the breeds that originated in Europe and Asia have been well studied. However, the genetic structure of pig breeds from Russia, Belorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, which represent large geographical areas and diverse climatic zones in Eurasia, remains largely unknown.ResultsThis study provides the first genomic survey of 170 pigs representing 13 breeds from Russia, Belorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine; 288 pigs from six Chinese and seven European breeds were also included for comparison. Our findings show that the 13 novel breeds tested derived mainly from European pigs through the complex admixture of Large White, Landrace, Duroc, Hampshire and other breeds, and that they display no geographic structure based on genetic distance. We also found a considerable Asian contribution to the miniature Siberian pigs (Minisib breed) from Russia. Apart from the Minisib, Urzhum, Ukrainian Spotted Steppe and Ukrainian White Steppe breeds, which may have undergone intensive inbreeding, the breeds included in this study showed relatively high genetic diversity and low levels of homozygosity compared to the Chinese indigenous pig breeds.ConclusionsThis study provides the first genomic overview of the population structure and genetic diversity of 13 representative pig breeds from Russia, Belorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine; this information will be useful for the preservation and management of these breeds.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12711-016-0196-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The article considers methods used for breeding and selection of mini-pigs in the ICG, SB RAS, the theoretical justifcation of these methods and the purposes for which they are used. We showed the genealogical structure of the herd and the contribution of inbreeding to the genetic similarity of modern representatives of genealogical lines and families with the founders of the breeding group. We characterized the phenotypic diversity of the ICG mini-pigs in colours, weight categories, types of growth and features of constitution. We listed measures supporting genetic diversity in the herd of the ICG mini-pigs. We explained the possibility of using similarity indices calculated by using portions of the ancestors’ blood (genome) for the selection of parental pairs and the evaluation of genetic consolidation of the herd. We showed that the average index of similarity between males and females, calculated by using portions of the ancestors’ blood, in the ICG minipigs is close to the limit value. It turned out that effective evaluation of the genetic potential of mini-pigs in growth rate and fnal size of individuals is only possible under the condition of a rich and full feeding of young animals. The time scale of estimation of growth of live weight of the ICG mini-pigs for three weight categories allocated in the selection group is presented. The types of growth and development of mini-pigs observed in the ICG breeding group and the type inherent to individuals in the small weight category are considered. We justifed the minimum live weight of a newborn piglet in the herd of the ICG mini-pigs. Values of optimal multiple pregnancy for the three categories of ICG mini-pig sows were calculated.

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Molecular typing of BLV samples isolated from Holsteinized Russian Black Pied cattle was carried out, and various cytofluorometric and morphological blood indices were examined. We performed the total count of white blood cells (WBC), lymphocyte (lymf), granulocyte (gran), monocyte (mon), red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HTC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red blood cell distribution width (RDW), platelet count (PLT), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), and platelet crit count (PCT). The LTR-region of BLV was haplotyped. Only viruses of haplotypes I (0.33±0.03) and III (0.67±0.03) of the eight possible were detected. The ratio of hematologically sick, healthy, and suspected carriers of BLV of haplotypes I and II was comparable with the results of other researchers. The numbers of leukocytes, erythrocytes and platelets in the blood of carriers of haplotype III exceeded the corresponding parameters of cattle affected by the virus of haplotype I. It is interesting to note that the difference in the hemolytic status of animals was manifested not only by the concentration of leukocytes as direct immune agents but also by the count of erythrocytes and platelets, which are not directly involved in the immune response. The number of particles of haplotype III of the BLV circulating in the blood of infected individuals exceeded that of the carriers of haplotype I. In this connection, an assumption was made about the evolutionary advantage of the more virulent haplotype III. However, the results of our own research in conjunction with the data of other scientists indicate that the high virulence of individual virus strains is a consequence of the tendency to implement the maximum possible intensity of the synthesis of virus particles but not of the high damaging effect alone. It is shown that high lethality is evolutionarily disadvantageous for viruses, since the extinction of the carrier as a biological species is fraught with the disappearance of the virus itself.

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Background This study describes the biodiversity and properties of Bovine leukemia virus in Western Siberia. This paper explores the effect of different genotypes of the env gene of the cattle leukemia virus on hematological parameters of infected animals. The researchers focused on exploring the polymorphism of the env gene and, in doing so, discovered the new genotypes Ia and Ib, which differ from genotype I. Several hypotheses on the origin of the different genotypes in Siberia are discussed. Results We obtained varying length of the restriction fragments for genotypes I. Additionally using restrictase Hae III were received fragments was named genotype Ia, and genotype Ib. There are 2.57 ± 0.55% (20 out of 779) samples of genotype Ib which does not differ significantly from 1% (χ2 = 2.46). Other genotypes were observed in the cattle of Siberia as wild type genotypes (their frequency varied from 17.84 to 32.73%). The maximum viral load was observed in animals with the II and IV viral genotypes (1000–1400 viral particles per 1000 healthy cells), and the minimum viral load was observed animals with genotype Ib (from 700 to 900 viral particles per 1000 healthy cells). Conclusions The probability of the direct introduction of genotype II from South America to Siberia is extremely small and it is more likely that the strain originated independently in an autonomous population with its distribution also occurring independently. A new variety of genotype I (Ib) was found, which can be both a neoplasm and a relict strain.

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This article continues a previous study colors in minipigs at ICG. It also has a phenomenological character, but it consideres juvenile colour, which is an integral element of the ontogenetic formation of the suit, wild type agouti pigs of the species Sus scrofa L. However, in ICG mini pigs, in addition to individuals with the suit of the wild type, juvenile colour is a feature of pigs with the black spotted suit. It should be noted that data about a similar phenomenon in pigs with black spotted colour were not found in the literature. We proposed that a unique juvenile colour of black spotted mini-pigs ICG is a consequence of increased synthesis of pigments of hair, the intensity of which obviously exceeds the performance by the wild boar and domestic pigs. Newborn piglets of mini pigs ICG of the colour of the wild type typically have too little or too much yellow (orange, brown) pigment, which makes the figure of juvenile livery blurry -low contrast, or the lack of it, with the result that they are gray or gray-blue color with dark gray longitudinal stripes. The pattern of juvenile livery piglets of mini pigs ICG is disrupted. As a rule, instead of a longitudinal stripe, a mesh pattern livery is observed. Therefore, the agouti like colour observed in mini-pigs ICG should rather be called more properly pseudowild type. It was suggested that the specially planned crosses were able to "reveal" the genetic load of mutations in the complex of alleles involved in the formation of the suit of the wild type and accumulated in the population, not exposed to stabilizing selection on this archaic for domestic pigs' colour. The accumulation of this genetic cargo at the mini-pigs was made possible by gipostatic suit wild type relative to epistatic colour standard for modern commercial plant breeds.Key words: mini pigs; juvenile livery; colour of the wild type; agouti; black spotted colour; the synthesis of the pigments; the loci of the colour.Настоящая работа продолжает начатое в предыдущем исследова-нии изучение расцветок мини-свиней селекции ИЦиГ СО РАН. Она тоже носит феноменологический характер, но рассматривается ювенильная окраска, которая является обязательным онтогене-тическим элементом масти дикого типа (агути) у свиней вида Sus scrofa L. Однако у мини-свиней ИЦиГ, кроме особей масти дикого типа, ювенильной окраской обладают и поросята черно-пестрой масти. Следует заметить, что данных о подобном явлении у свиней черно-пестрой масти в литературе найти не удалось. Предположе-но, что своеобразная ювенильная окраска черно-пестрых мини-свиней ИЦиГ -следствие повышенного синтеза пигментов волося-ного покрова, интенсивность которого, очевидно, превышает по-казатели как у дикого кабана, так и у домашних свиней. Показано, что у поросят мини-свиней ИЦиГ масти дикого типа цветовая гам-ма и рисунок ювенильной ливреи не соответствуют нормальным для дикого кабана. Новорожденные поросята у мини-свиней ИЦиГ масти дикого типа, как правило, имеют либо избыток желтого (оранжевого, коричневого) пигмента, что делает рисунок юве-нильно...