Genetic diversity of domestic pigs as revealed by microsatellites: a mini review

Of the several hundred breeds of pigs in the world, many are in danger of extinction and others are threatened by inefficient use or loss due to cross breeding. Special efforts are required to conserve these genetic resources for food security and rural development but it is not possible to conserve all breeds. Microsatellites, which are short tandem nucleotide repeats found scattered throughout the genome of eukaryotes, have been used to evaluate genetic diversity present within livestock populations to assist in rationalising breed conservation programmes and ensure the greatest possible conservation of diversity. This review provides insights into the use of microsatellite markers to reveal origin, genetic structure and diversity within and across various domestic pig breeds around the world. However, in future, microsatellites may be replaced by panels of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for genome-wide population genetic analysis. Meanwhile, microsatellites are still widely employed and for some species may never be replaced by SNP.