Chinese scientists decode million-year genetic secrets of wild boar migration

BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have deciphered the unique genetic adaptations enabling Central Asian wild boars to survive environmental challenges during their million-year migration across Eurasia, providing new insights into large mammal responses to climate change, according to the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).

Conducted by researchers from the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, CAAS, the study was published in the journal Cell Genomics.

Wild boars, the ancestors of domestic pigs, originated in Southeast Asia's tropics before spreading west and north over millions of years to reach high-latitude regions in Europe and Central Asia.

These populations faced extreme cold and reduced ultraviolet exposure, yet their genetic adaptation mechanisms remained poorly understood, particularly in Central Asia, a critical corridor for east-west dispersal.

The research integrated 47 newly sequenced and 49 publicly available high-quality wild boar genomes spanning East Asia, Central Asia and Europe. Results show that Asian wild boars diverged from Southeast Asian relatives approximately 3.6 million years ago and subsequent differentiation produced distinct populations in southern China and Central Asia.

Central Asian boars developed genetic advantages suited to arid, cold environments, including two lipid metabolism gene variants enhancing energy storage during food scarcity, and a meat quality-related mutation potentially explaining their robust physique.

These discoveries not only helped reconstruct the Eurasian migration history but also provided a natural genetic repository for improving domestic pig breeding, according to the research team.