Evolution and legacy of East Asian aurochs
Aurochs (Bos primigenius), once widely distributed in Afro-Eurasia, became extinct in the early 1600 s. However, their phylogeography and relative contributions to domestic cattle remain unknown. In this study, we analyzed 16 genomes of ancient aurochs and three mitogenomes of ancient bison (Bison priscus) excavated in East Asia, dating from 43,000 to 3,590 years ago. These newly generated data with previously published genomic information on aurochs as well as ancient/extant domestic cattle worldwide through genome analysis. Our findings revealed significant genetic divergence between East Asian aurochs and their European, Near Eastern, and African counterparts on the basis of both mitochondrial and nuclear genomic data. Furthermore, we identified evidence of gene flow from East Asian aurochs into ancient and present-day taurine cattle, suggesting their potential role in facilitating the environmental adaptation of domestic cattle.
Authors
- Johannes Arjen Lenstra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1745-7739)
- Mikkel‐Holger S. Sinding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1371-219X)
- Alessandro Achilli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6871-3451)
- Ningbo Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6624-5885)
- Chuzhao Lei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1647-1037)
- Qiaomei Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7141-0002)
- Xin Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5902-9949)
- Xiaoting Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3317-6929)
- Jianlin Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1527-3963)
- Dongju Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6117-4958)
- Yuri Mazei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-8919)
- Liangliang Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4084-2638)
- Xiwen Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2745-0437)
- Hucai Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9684-503X)
- Xiaoyu Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8202-2822)
- Fengqin Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8204-3877)
- Nicola Rambaldi Migliore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1523-0450)
- Xinyi Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9702-3417)
- Xinyi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4767-4737)
- Xiaonan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0155-776X)
- Yang Lyu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0510-828X)
- Jiawen Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1980-0085)
- Fengwei Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9351-5278)
- Jialei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6029-765X)
- Xiaoming Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3139-2361)
- Ping Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2563-3042)
- Xin Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3988-5239)
Institutions
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Yunnan University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CN)
- Yunnan Institute of Environmental Sciences (CN)
- Shenzhen MSU-BIT University
- Lanzhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Bulletin
- Published
- 2024-09-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2024.09.016
- Citations
- 16
- Primary Topic
- Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.81
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Northwest A and F University
- Chinese Universities Scientific Fund
- Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System