The Role of the Environment in Shaping the Genomic Variation in an Insular Wild Boar Population

The Sardinian population of wild boar (WB, Sus scrofa meridionalis) has evolved on this Mediterranean island since its arrival in Neolithic age. Climate and land use vary across the island; high temperatures dryness represent limiting factors for development reproduction species. Hence, environment can have contributed to create morphological differences we observe today could sustain genetic structure that been previously observed using neutral molecular markers. We therefore searched genomic signatures local adaptation a sample WB genotyped at almost 50 K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Genetic was separating northwest southwest from east island, where internal substructure also emerged. identified 49 SNPs as candidate loci involved 61 genes. Gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed over-representation terms related cell localization, motility, adhesion, but anatomical immunity. According our results, seems played role shaping differentiation limited evolutionary timescale.