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Domestication of cattle: Two or three events?
Daniel Pitt1, Natalia Sevane1, Ezequiel L Nicolazzi2
1School of Biosciences Cardiff University Cardiff UK.
Evolutionary Applications
|January 10, 2019
Summary
Cattle domestication likely occurred twice, not three times, with African taurine cattle genetic variation explained by hybridization with local aurochs. This clarifies cattle population genetics and demographic history.
Area of Science:
- Genetics and Genomics
- Animal Science
- Archaeology
Background:
- Cattle domestication significantly impacted human societal development over 10,000 years ago.
- The origins of taurine (Bos taurus) and indicine (Bos indicus) cattle are debated, with proposed domestication events in the Fertile Crescent, Indus Valley, and Egypt.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the population structure and domestication dynamics of taurine and indicine cattle.
- To test models of two versus three cattle domestication events using genetic data.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of medium-density Illumina Bovine SNP array data from 3,196 individuals across 180 cattle populations.
- Application of approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to model domestication and demographic histories.
Main Results:
- A two-domestication event model was consistently favored over a three-event model.
- Genetic variation in African taurine cattle is likely due to post-domestication hybridization with local aurochs.
- African indicine cattle share genetic variation with Asian indicine cattle (recent divergence) and African taurine cattle (gene flow).
Conclusions:
- The study clarifies the genetic variation in modern cattle by explaining past demographic events.
- Findings suggest hybridization, rather than a separate domestication event, explains unique African taurine cattle genetics.
- Further research is needed to fully understand complex human-mediated cattle dispersal patterns.
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