Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 109, Issue 7, Pages 2449-2454Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1111637109
Keywords
horse mitochondrial genome; mtDNA haplogroups; origin of Equus caballus; Przewalski's horse; animal domestication
Categories
Funding
- Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research: Fondo per gli Investimenti della Ricerca di Base (FIRB) Futuro in Ricerca
- Progetti Ricerca Interesse Nazionale
- L'OREAL Italia per le Donne e la Scienza
- Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) [SFRH/BPD/64233/2009]
- Consorzio Interuniversitario di Biotecnologie
- Fondazione Alma Mater Ticinensis
- Progetto Ricerca e INNOVAzione nelle attivita di miglioramento GENetico animale (INNOVAGEN)
- Italian Ministry of Agriculture
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Archaeological and genetic evidence concerning the time and mode of wild horse (Equus ferus) domestication is still debated. High levels of genetic diversity in horse mtDNA have been detected when analyzing the control region; recurrent mutations, however, tend to blur the structure of the phylogenetic tree. Here, we brought the horse mtDNA phylogeny to the highest level of molecular resolution by analyzing 83 mitochondrial genomes from modern horses across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. Our data reveal 18 major haplogroups (A-R) with radiation times that are mostly confined to the Neolithic and later periods and place the root of the phylogeny corresponding to the Ancestral Mare Mitogenome at similar to 130-160 thousand years ago. All haplogroups were detected in modern horses from Asia, but F was only found in E. przewalskii-the only remaining wild horse. Therefore, a wide range of matrilineal lineages from the extinct E. ferus underwent domestication in the Eurasian steppes during the Eneolithic period and were transmitted to modern E. caballus breeds. Importantly, now that the major horse haplogroups have been defined, each with diagnostic mutational motifs (in both the coding and control regions), these haplotypes could be easily used to (i) classify well-preserved ancient remains, (ii) (re) assess the haplogroup variation of modern breeds, including Thoroughbreds, and (iii) evaluate the possible role of mtDNA backgrounds in racehorse performance.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available