Genetic origin, admixture and population history of aurochs (Bos primigenius) and primitive European cattle

2016/09/28 by Maulik Upadhyay, RPMA Crooijmans, W Chen +10 · 1 voice · 125 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Biological dispersal #Biology #Demography #Domestication #Effective population size #Evolutionary biology #Founder effect #Gene #Gene flow #Gene pool #Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals #Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock #Genetic diversity #Genetic diversity and population structure #Genetic variation #Genetics #Genotype #Haplotype #Inbreeding #Isolation by distance #Population #Runs of Homozygosity #Single-nucleotide polymorphism #Zoology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/hdy.2016.79

published in Heredity 118(2), 169-176 (Springer Nature)

openalex publication_date 2016/09/28 · openalex created_date 2016/10/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

The domestication of taurine cattle initiated ~10 000 years ago in the Near East from a wild aurochs (Bos primigenius) population followed by their dispersal through migration of agriculturalists to Europe. Although gene flow from wild aurochs still present at the time of this early dispersion is still debated, some of the extant primitive cattle populations are believed to possess the aurochs-like primitive features. In this study, we use genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms to assess relationship, admixture patterns and demographic history of an ancient aurochs sample and European cattle populations, several of which have primitive features and are suitable for extensive management. The principal component analysis, the model-based clustering and a distance-based network analysis support previous works suggesting different histories for north-western and southern European cattle. Population admixture analysis indicates a zebu gene flow in the Balkan and Italian Podolic cattle populations. Our analysis supports the previous report of gene flow between British and Irish primitive cattle populations and local aurochs. In addition, we show evidence of aurochs gene flow in the Iberian cattle populations indicating wide geographical distribution of the aurochs. Runs of homozygosity (ROH) reveal that demographic processes like genetic isolation and breed formation have contributed to genomic variations of European cattle populations. The ROH also indicate recent inbreeding in southern European cattle populations. We conclude that in addition to factors such as ancient human migrations, isolation by distance and cross-breeding, gene flow between domestic and wild-cattle populations also has shaped genomic composition of European cattle populations.

Citations

• Genome sequencing of the extinct Eurasian wild aurochs, Bos primigenius, illuminates the phylogeography and evolution of cattle
• PLINK: A Tool Set for Whole-Genome Association and Population-Based Linkage Analyses

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Discussions

• The extinct auroch had at least three subspecies, and all three contributed some ancestry to modern cattle. For example, Cai et al found East Asian cattle descend from West Eurasian cattle originally [bsky, 22 points, 0 comments]

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