Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2005 Oct 22;272(1577):2211-7.
doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3204.

Evidence of three maternal lineages in Near Eastern sheep supporting multiple domestication events

Susana Pedrosa  1 , Metehan Uzun, Juan-José Arranz, Beatriz Gutiérrez-Gil, Fermín San Primitivo, Yolanda Bayón
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Evidence of three maternal lineages in Near Eastern sheep supporting multiple domestication events

Susana Pedrosa et al. Proc Biol Sci. .

Abstract

The variability of mtDNA was analysed in local sheep breeds reared throughout Turkey, for which a fragment of the D-loop region and the complete cytochrome b were sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses performed independently for the D-loop and the Cyt b gene revealed three clearly separated clusters indicating three major maternal lineages, two of which had been previously described as types B and A. The new type, C, was present in all the breeds analysed and showed considerable mtDNA variability. Divergence time was obtained on the basis of Cyt b gene and was estimated to be around 160,000-170,000 years ago for lineages B and A, whereas the divergence of lineage C proved to have occurred earlier (between 450,000 and 750,000 years ago). These times greatly predate domestication and suggest that the origin of modern sheep breeds was more complex than previously thought and that at least three independent sheep domestication events occurred. Our results, together with archaeological information and the current wild sheep populations in the Near East region support the high importance of this area in the sheep domestication process. Finally, the evidence of a third maternal lineage has important implications regarding the history of modern sheep.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Neighbour-joining trees of (a) D-loop and (b) Cyt b mtDNA types. Bootstrap supporting values are shown on the nodes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Alignment of variable positions in D-loop sequences. Nucleotide numbering is based on Ovis aries [AF010406] (Hiendleder et al. 1998b).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Alignment of variable positions in Cyt b sequences. Nucleotide numbering is based on Ovis aries [AF010406] (Hiendleder et al. 1998b).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bradley D.G, MacHugh D.E, Cunningham P, Loftus R.T. Mitochondrial diversity and the origins of African and European cattle. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 1996;93:5131–5135. 10.1073/pnas.93.10.5131 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bruford M.W, Bradley D.G, Luikart G. DNA markers reveal the complexity of livestock domestication. Nat. Rev. Genet. 2003;4:900–910. 10.1038/nrg1203 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Felsenstein J. University of Washington; Seattle, WA: 1995. PHYLIP (phylogeny inference package), version 3.55.
    1. Gupta A.K. Origin of agriculture and domestication of plants and animals linked to early Holocene climate amelioration. Curr. Sci. 2004;87:54–59.
    1. Hassanin A, Pasquet E, Vigne J.D. Molecular systematics of the subfamily Caprinae (Artiodactyla, Bovidae) as determined from cytochrome b sequences. J. Mamm. Evol. 1998;5:217–236. 10.1023/A:1020560412929 - DOI

Publication types