0000000000267855
AUTHOR
David A. Magee
Meta-Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA Reveals Several Population Bottlenecks during Worldwide Migrations of Cattle
Several studies have investigated the differentiation of mitochondrial DNA in Eurasian, African and American cattle as well as archaeological bovine material. A global survey of these studies shows that haplogroup distributions are more stable in time than in space. All major migrations of cattle have shifted the haplogroup distributions considerably with a reduction of the number of haplogroups and/or an expansion of haplotypes that are rare or absent in the ancestral populations. The most extreme case is the almost exclusive colonization of Africa by the T1 haplogroup, which is rare in Southwest Asian cattle. In contrast, ancient samples invariably show continuity with present-day cattle …
A population genomics analysis of the native Irish Galway sheep breed.
SUMMARYThe Galway sheep population is the only native Irish sheep breed and represents an important livestock genetic resource, which is currently categorised as “at-risk”. In the present study, comparative population genomics analyses of Galway sheep and other sheep populations of European origin were used to investigate the microevolution and recent genetic history of the breed. These analyses support the hypothesis that British Leicester sheep were used in the formation of the Galway breed and suggest more recent gene flow from the Suffolk sheep breed. When compared to conventional and endangered breeds, the Galway breed was intermediate in effective population size, genomic inbreeding a…