Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
Emmy Noether Group Evolutionary Immunogenomics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany.
Commun Biol. 2021 Nov 12;4(1):1279. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02794-8.
Sheep were among the first domesticated animals, but their demographic history is little understood. Here we analyzed nuclear polymorphism and mitochondrial data (mtDNA) from ancient central and west Anatolian sheep dating from Epipaleolithic to late Neolithic, comparatively with modern-day breeds and central Asian Neolithic/Bronze Age sheep (OBI). Analyzing ancient nuclear data, we found that Anatolian Neolithic sheep (ANS) are genetically closest to present-day European breeds relative to Asian breeds, a conclusion supported by mtDNA haplogroup frequencies. In contrast, OBI showed higher genetic affinity to present-day Asian breeds. These results suggest that the east-west genetic structure observed in present-day breeds had already emerged by 6000 BCE, hinting at multiple sheep domestication episodes or early wild introgression in southwest Asia. Furthermore, we found that ANS are genetically distinct from all modern breeds. Our results suggest that European and Anatolian domestic sheep gene pools have been strongly remolded since the Neolithic.
绵羊是最早被驯化的动物之一,但它们的种群历史却鲜为人知。在这里,我们分析了来自旧石器时代晚期到新石器时代晚期的古代中安纳托利亚绵羊的核多态性和线粒体数据(mtDNA),并与现代品种和中亚新石器时代/青铜时代绵羊(OBI)进行了比较。通过分析古代核数据,我们发现相对于亚洲品种,安纳托利亚新石器时代绵羊(ANS)在遗传上与现代欧洲品种最为接近,这一结论得到了 mtDNA 单倍型频率的支持。相比之下,OBI 与现代亚洲品种的遗传亲和力更高。这些结果表明,目前品种中观察到的东西向遗传结构在公元前 6000 年就已经出现,暗示在西南亚地区可能发生了多次绵羊驯化事件或早期的野生基因渗入。此外,我们还发现 ANS 在遗传上与所有现代品种都不同。我们的研究结果表明,欧洲和安纳托利亚家羊的基因库自新石器时代以来已经发生了强烈的重塑。