3.4 Population genetic analysis
Using two SNP datasets, one with 869 SNPs and one filtered to retain only those with HO ≤ 0.5 (462 SNPs), we observed consistent population structure results in PCoA and STRUCTURE analyses, except for the position of individual TM_6 in the PCoA plot under 869 SNPs (Fig. 4). The population division separated western (Group W: LL, EP, HC) and eastern populations (Group E: TM, VB, CD) (Fig. 4). Although the most likely number of K estimated was 3 for the 869 SNPs matrix, both groups maintained similar genetic structure.F ST values indicate low differentiation between groups (i.e., F ST < 0.15), aligning with limited recent gene flow observed between them (Table 2).