Genetic Profile and Serosurvey for Virus Infections of Japanese Wild Boars in Shikoku Island

Abstract

To estimate the genetic background of Japanese wild boars inhibiting the 4 prefectures of Shikoku Island (Kagawa, Tokushima, Kouchi and Ehime), we examined haplotypes of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and genotypes of the nuclear glucosephosphate isomerase-processed pseudogene (GPIP) in 189 wild boars. Of the 8 different mtDNA haplotypes (J5, J10, J12, J13, J15, J19, J20 and E33) detected in Shikoku Island, the first to be identified were J19 and J20 (of Japanese wild boar lineage) and E33 (of European domestic pig lineage). The presence of haplotype E33 indicates local crossbreeding between wild boar and escaped domestic pigs and/or crossbred Inobuta. Four kinds of the GPIP genotypes were detected from 189 wild baors in Shikoku Island, but no European GPIP alleles were found. In 113 wild boars, no antibodies against Classical Swine Fever or Aujeszky's disease were detected, suggesting that they had not been exposed to those pathogens.