CONSERVATION SUPPORT NETWORK

  • Home
  • What we do
  • The Team
  • News / Blog
  • Projects
  • Contact
  • Home
  • What we do
  • The Team
  • News / Blog
  • Projects
  • Contact

New paper out: Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary

17/5/2016

Comments

 
Dromedaries have been fundamental to the development of human societies in arid landscapes and for long-distance trade across hostile hot terrains for 3,000y. Today they continue to be an important livestock resource in marginal agro-ecological zones. However, the history of dromedary domestication and the influence of ancient trading networks on their genetic structure have remained elusive. We combined ancient DNA sequences of wild and early-domesticated dromedary samples from arid regions with nuclear micro satellite and mitochondrial genotype information from 1,083 extant animals collected across the species’ range. We observe little phytogeographic signal in the modern population, indicative of extensive gene flow and virtually affecting all regions except East Africa, where dromedary populations have remained relatively isolated. In agreement with archaeological findings, we identify wild dromedaries from the southeast Arabian Peninsula among the founders of the domestic dromedary gene pool. Approximate Bayesian computations further support the “restocking from the wild” hypothesis, with an initial domestication followed by introgression from individuals from wild, now-extinct populations. Compared with other livestock, which show a long history of gene flow with their wild ancestors, we find a high initial diversity relative to the native distribution of the wild ancestor on the Arabian Peninsula and to the brief coexistence of early-domesticated and wild individuals. This study also demonstrates the potential to retrieve ancient DNA sequences from osseous remains excavated in hot and dry desert environments. Link to full paper in PNAS
Picture
Comments

    PK, Chris & Friends

    Periodic musings

    Archives

    June 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly