The Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ann Anat. 2012 Jan 20;194(1):103-11. doi: 10.1016/j.aanat.2011.10.011. Epub 2011 Nov 17.
We extracted DNA from 39 Danish aurochs specimens and successfully amplified and sequenced a 252 base pair long fragment of the multivariable region I of the mitochondrial control region from 11 specimens. The sequences from these specimens dated back to 9830-2865 14Cyr BP and represent the first study of genetic variation of Danish aurochs. In addition, for all specimens we address correlations between the ability to obtain DNA sequences and various parameters such as the age of the sample, the collagen content, the museum storage period, Danish geography and whether the specimens were found in an archeological or geological context. We find that aurochs from southern Scandinavia display a star-shaped population genetic structure, that is indicative of a local and relatively recent diversification from a few ancestral haplotypes that may have originated in the ancestral Western European population before migration northwards during the retreat of the glaciers. Scenarios suggesting several invasions of genetically distinct aurochs are not supported by these analyses. Rather, our results suggest that a single continuous migration northward occurred. Our findings also suggest, although with only limited support, that aurochs in Northwestern Europe underwent a population expansion beginning shortly after the retreat of the glacial ice from Denmark and had a stable population size until the population decline that must have occurred prior to extinction. The absence of haplotypes similar to modern domestic cattle in our aurochs suggests that introgression between these species must have been limited, if it occurred at all. We found that the successful recovery of genetic material for PCR amplification correlates with sample age and local geographic conditions. However, contrary to other studies, we found no significant correlation between length of time in museum storage or the type of the locality in which a specimen was discovered (archeological or geological) and amplification success. Finally, we found large variances in our estimates of collagen content preventing an evaluation of this as an indicator of preservation quality.
我们从 39 个丹麦野牛标本中提取了 DNA，并成功地从 11 个标本中扩增和测序了线粒体控制区多变量区 I 的 252 个碱基对长片段。这些标本的序列可追溯到 9830-2865 14Cyr BP，代表了对丹麦野牛遗传变异的首次研究。此外，对于所有标本，我们还探讨了获得 DNA 序列的能力与各种参数之间的相关性，如样本的年龄、胶原蛋白含量、博物馆保存期、丹麦地理位置以及标本是在考古学还是地质学背景下发现的。我们发现，来自斯堪的纳维亚南部的野牛显示出星形的种群遗传结构，这表明在冰川退缩期间，从少数祖先单倍型中发生了局部和相对较近的多样化，这些祖先单倍型可能起源于祖先的西欧种群。这些分析不支持几个遗传上不同的野牛入侵的情景。相反，我们的结果表明，只有一次连续的向北迁移发生。我们的研究结果还表明，尽管支持有限，但欧洲西北部的野牛在冰川从丹麦撤退后不久就经历了种群扩张，并且种群数量稳定，直到灭绝前必然发生的种群减少。我们的野牛中没有与现代家养牛相似的单倍型，这表明这两个物种之间的基因渗透一定是有限的，如果发生的话。我们发现，成功恢复用于 PCR 扩增的遗传物质与样本年龄和当地地理条件相关。然而，与其他研究不同的是，我们没有发现博物馆保存时间的长短或标本发现地点（考古学或地质学）与扩增成功之间存在显著相关性。最后，我们发现胶原蛋白含量的估计值存在很大差异，这使得无法评估其作为保存质量的指标。
