Differentiation of European wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) and domestic swine (Sus scrofa domestica) meats by PCR analysis targeting the mitochondrial D-loop and the nuclear melanocortin receptor 1 (MC1R) genes

Identification of mitochondrial markers for genetic traceability of European wild boars and Iberian and Duroc pigs

“…The differentiation between meats from European wild boar, domestic pig and wild boar 3 domestic pig crosses is not completely feasible. The alleles of the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene have been reported as useful markers for distinguishing among these meats (Fajardo et al, 2008). However, MC1R*1 allele is not the only one present in Spanish wild boars.…”

“…By sequencing, Naya et al (2003) were able to distinguish D-loop haplotypes of Japanese wild boar from those of other Asian and European domestic pigs, but no single nucleotide substitutions were detected as useful diagnostic markers. Recently, Fajardo et al (2008) failed in identifying any D-loop nucleotide substitution useful to discriminate European wild and domestic pigs. Although in the present study we found three linked wild boar mtDNA markers, they showed great frequency dispersion among the sampled territories, as they only appeared in some samples from Asturias (Northwestern Spain) and Toledo (Central Spain), and were absent in wild pigs hunted in other regions.…”

“…The distinction between fraudulent or unintentional mislabeling of wild boar products requires the accurate differentiation of their domestic or wild maternal origin. Previous studies have been focused for distinguishing between meats from wild boar, domestic pig and wild boar 3 domestic pig crosses liable to be marketed as derived from purebred wild boars (Naya et al, 2003;Fajardo et al, 2008). However, their results did not provide a useful genetic test to determine the maternal origin.…”

Genetic background of coat colour in sheep

“…Some recessive genetic loss-of-function variants in the MC1R gene are responsible for the red hair colour phenotype in humans (red hair, fair skin) and increase the risk of developing cutaneous melanoma (Valverde et al, 1995). The MC1R polymorphism has been used to detect hybrids in wild boars (Sus scrofa scrofa) and domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica), which was not possible with the use of the mi-tochondrial DNA polymorphism (Fajardo et al, 2008). A unique MC1R allele (E + ) associated with the wild-type coat colour of European wild boar has not been found in any of the domestic pig breeds (Fajardo et al, 2008;Koutsogiannouli et al, 2010).…”

“…The MC1R polymorphism has been used to detect hybrids in wild boars (Sus scrofa scrofa) and domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica), which was not possible with the use of the mi-tochondrial DNA polymorphism (Fajardo et al, 2008). A unique MC1R allele (E + ) associated with the wild-type coat colour of European wild boar has not been found in any of the domestic pig breeds (Fajardo et al, 2008;Koutsogiannouli et al, 2010). The functional and non-functional mutations of the MC1R gene have been described for cattle (Klungland et al, 1995), pigs (Kijas et al, 1998), horses (Marklund et al, 1996), and sheep (Fontanesi et al, 2010a) and have an effect on dominant or partially dominant black or dark phenotypes or on recessive or partially recessive red, yellow, or pale coats.…”