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Science (New York, N.Y.)2017; 356(6336); 442-445; doi: 10.1126/science.aam5298

Ancient genomic changes associated with domestication of the horse.

Abstract: The genomic changes underlying both early and late stages of horse domestication remain largely unknown. We examined the genomes of 14 early domestic horses from the Bronze and Iron Ages, dating to between ~4.1 and 2.3 thousand years before present. We find early domestication selection patterns supporting the neural crest hypothesis, which provides a unified developmental origin for common domestic traits. Within the past 2.3 thousand years, horses lost genetic diversity and archaic DNA tracts introgressed from a now-extinct lineage. They accumulated deleterious mutations later than expected under the cost-of-domestication hypothesis, probably because of breeding from limited numbers of stallions. We also reveal that Iron Age Scythian steppe nomads implemented breeding strategies involving no detectable inbreeding and selection for coat-color variation and robust forelimbs.
Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Publication Date: 2017-04-30 PubMed ID: 28450643DOI: 10.1126/science.aam5298Google Scholar: Lookup
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  • Journal Article
  • Research Support
  • Non-U.S. Gov't

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The research explores the genomic changes related to the domestication of horses, spanning from roughly 4,100 to 2,300 years ago. The study identified patterns in early domestication that support the neural crest hypothesis and found that horses lost genetic diversity and accumulated harmful mutations likely due to breeding from a limited number of stallions.

Objective and Methodology

  • The study aimed to understand the genomic changes associated with horse domestication, particularly during the early and late stages.
  • Researchers examined the genomes of 14 early domestic horses from the Bronze and Iron Ages, dating from approximately 4.1 to 2.3 thousand years ago.

Findings and Implications

  • The study found patterns in early horse domestication that reinforce the neural crest hypothesis. This hypothesis proposes a common developmental origin for domestic characteristics in animals, suggesting that gene changes related to the neural crest – a group of cells in developing embryos – greatly influenced the traits seen in domesticated horses.
  • In the last 2.3 thousand years, horses lost genetic diversity and gained archaic DNA tracts from an extinct lineage. Horses also accumulated harmful mutations rather late in the domestication process. This late accumulation of harmful mutations does not align with the norm expected under the cost-of-domestication hypothesis. The surprising sequence of these genetic events could be attributed to the practice of breeding from a limited pool of stallions, concentrating the prevalence of any deleterious mutations they carried.
  • The research also revealed that Iron Age Scythian nomads practiced breeding strategies that avoided detectable inbreeding. They chose horses for breeding based on coat color variations and robust forelimbs, which may have had practical implications for the usability and health of the horses.

Conclusion

  • This research offers an interesting glimpse into the genomic changes involved in horse domestication. It underscores the complexity of domestication as a process: influenced not only by natural selection but also by the specific human influences that shape breeding practices.
  • The findings suggest potential areas for further study – examining the link between the neural crest hypothesis and other domesticated animals, and exploring other historical breeding practices and their longer-term effects.

Cite This Article

APA
Librado P, Gamba C, Gaunitz C, Der Sarkissian C, Pruvost M, Albrechtsen A, Fages A, Khan N, Schubert M, Jagannathan V, Serres-Armero A, Kuderna LFK, Povolotskaya IS, Seguin-Orlando A, Lepetz S, Neuditschko M, Thèves C, Alquraishi S, Alfarhan AH, Al-Rasheid K, Rieder S, Samashev Z, Francfort HP, Benecke N, Hofreiter M, Ludwig A, Keyser C, Marques-Bonet T, Ludes B, Crubézy E, Leeb T, Willerslev E, Orlando L. (2017). Ancient genomic changes associated with domestication of the horse. Science, 356(6336), 442-445. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam5298

Publication

Science (New York, N.Y.)
ISSN: 1095-9203
NlmUniqueID: 0404511
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 356
Issue: 6336
Pages: 442-445

Researcher Affiliations

Librado, Pablo
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
Gamba, Cristina
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
Gaunitz, Charleen
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
Der Sarkissian, Clio
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
Pruvost, Mélanie
  • Institut Jacques Monod, UMR 7592 CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, 75205 Paris cedex 13, France.
Albrechtsen, Anders
  • Bioinformatics Center, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2200N Copenhagen, Denmark.
Fages, Antoine
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d'Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000 Toulouse, France.
Khan, Naveed
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Department of Biotechnology, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Pakistan.
Schubert, Mikkel
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jagannathan, Vidhya
  • Institute of Genetics, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland.
Serres-Armero, Aitor
  • Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
  • Center for Genomic Regulation (CNAG-CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri i Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Kuderna, Lukas F K
  • Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
  • Center for Genomic Regulation (CNAG-CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri i Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Povolotskaya, Inna S
  • Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
  • Center for Genomic Regulation (CNAG-CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri i Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Seguin-Orlando, Andaine
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • National High-Throughput DNA Sequencing Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lepetz, Sébastien
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique, Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements (UMR 7209), 55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
Neuditschko, Markus
  • Agroscope, Swiss National Stud Farm, 1580 Avenches, Switzerland.
Thèves, Catherine
  • Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d'Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000 Toulouse, France.
Alquraishi, Saleh
  • Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Alfarhan, Ahmed H
  • Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Al-Rasheid, Khaled
  • Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Rieder, Stefan
  • Agroscope, Swiss National Stud Farm, 1580 Avenches, Switzerland.
Samashev, Zainolla
  • Branch of Institute of Archaeology Margulan, Republic Avenue 24-405, 010000 Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan.
Francfort, Henri-Paul
  • CNRS, UMR 7041 Archéologie et Sciences de l'Antiquité, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale, Maison René Ginouvès, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre, France.
Benecke, Norbert
  • German Archaeological Institute, Department of Natural Sciences, Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Hofreiter, Michael
  • University of Potsdam, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
Ludwig, Arne
  • Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin 10315, Germany.
Keyser, Christine
  • Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d'Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000 Toulouse, France.
  • Institut de Médecine Légale, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
Marques-Bonet, Tomas
  • Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
  • Center for Genomic Regulation (CNAG-CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri i Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
  • Catalan Institution of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Passeig de Lluís Companys, 23, 08010, Barcelona, Spain.
Ludes, Bertrand
  • Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d'Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000 Toulouse, France.
  • Institut Médico-Légal, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
Crubézy, Eric
  • Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d'Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000 Toulouse, France.
Leeb, Tosso
  • Institute of Genetics, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland.
Willerslev, Eske
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark.
Orlando, Ludovic
  • Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350K Copenhagen, Denmark. lorlando@snm.ku.dk.
  • Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d'Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000 Toulouse, France.

MeSH Terms

  • Animals
  • Breeding
  • DNA, Ancient
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics
  • Domestication
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genome
  • Horses / genetics
  • Neural Crest
  • Quantitative Trait, Heritable
  • Selection, Genetic

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