Publications (6)45.64 Total impact
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Article: Whole mitochondrial genome sequencing of domestic horses reveals incorporation of extensive wild horse diversity during domestication.
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ABSTRACT: DNA target enrichment by micro-array capture combined with high throughput sequencing technologies provides the possibility to obtain large amounts of sequence data (e.g. whole mitochondrial DNA genomes) from multiple individuals at relatively low costs. Previously, whole mitochondrial genome data for domestic horses (Equus caballus) were limited to only a few specimens and only short parts of the mtDNA genome (especially the hypervariable region) were investigated for larger sample sets. In this study we investigated whole mitochondrial genomes of 59 domestic horses from 44 breeds and a single Przewalski horse (Equus przewalski) using a recently described multiplex micro-array capture approach. We found 473 variable positions within the domestic horses, 292 of which are parsimony-informative, providing a well resolved phylogenetic tree. Our divergence time estimate suggests that the mitochondrial genomes of modern horse breeds shared a common ancestor around 93,000 years ago and no later than 38,000 years ago. A Bayesian skyline plot (BSP) reveals a significant population expansion beginning 6,000-8,000 years ago with an ongoing exponential growth until the present, similar to other domestic animal species. Our data further suggest that a large sample of wild horse diversity was incorporated into the domestic population; specifically, at least 46 of the mtDNA lineages observed in domestic horses (73%) already existed before the beginning of domestication about 5,000 years ago. Our study provides a window into the maternal origins of extant domestic horses and confirms that modern domestic breeds present a wide sample of the mtDNA diversity found in ancestral, now extinct, wild horse populations. The data obtained allow us to detect a population expansion event coinciding with the beginning of domestication and to estimate both the minimum number of female horses incorporated into the domestic gene pool and the time depth of the domestic horse mtDNA gene pool.BMC Evolutionary Biology 11/2011; 11:328. · 3.52 Impact Factor -
Article: Discovery of lost diversity of paternal horse lineages using ancient DNA.
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ABSTRACT: Modern domestic horses display abundant genetic diversity within female-inherited mitochondrial DNA, but practically no sequence diversity on the male-inherited Y chromosome. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this discrepancy, but can only be tested through knowledge of the diversity in both the ancestral (pre-domestication) maternal and paternal lineages. As wild horses are practically extinct, ancient DNA studies offer the only means to assess this ancestral diversity. Here we show considerable ancestral diversity in ancient male horses by sequencing 4 kb of Y chromosomal DNA from eight ancient wild horses and one 2,800-year-old domesticated horse. Both ancient and modern domestic horses form a separate branch from the ancient wild horses, with the Przewalski horse at its base. Our methodology establishes the feasibility of re-sequencing long ancient nuclear DNA fragments and demonstrates the power of ancient Y chromosome DNA sequence data to provide insights into the evolutionary history of populations.Nature Communications 01/2011; 2:450. · 7.40 Impact Factor -
Article: Coat color variation at the beginning of horse domestication.
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ABSTRACT: The transformation of wild animals into domestic ones available for human nutrition was a key prerequisite for modern human societies. However, no other domestic species has had such a substantial impact on the warfare, transportation, and communication capabilities of human societies as the horse. Here, we show that the analysis of ancient DNA targeting nuclear genes responsible for coat coloration allows us to shed light on the timing and place of horse domestication. We conclude that it is unlikely that horse domestication substantially predates the occurrence of coat color variation, which was found to begin around the third millennium before the common era.Science 05/2009; 324(5926):485. · 31.20 Impact Factor -
Article: Tracing the first steps of American sturgeon pioneers in Europe.
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ABSTRACT: A Baltic population of Atlantic sturgeon was founded approximately 1,200 years ago by migrants from North America, but after centuries of persistence, the population was extirpated in the 1960s, mainly as a result of over-harvest and habitat alterations. As there are four genetically distinct groups of Atlantic sturgeon inhabiting North American rivers today, we investigated the genetic provenance of the historic Baltic population by ancient DNA analyses using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. The phylogeographic signal obtained from multilocus microsatellite DNA genotypes and mitochondrial DNA control region haplotypes, when compared to existing baseline datasets from extant populations, allowed for the identification of the region-of-origin of the North American Atlantic sturgeon founders. Moreover, statistical and simulation analyses of the multilocus genotypes allowed for the calculation of the effective number of individuals that originally founded the European population of Atlantic sturgeon. Our findings suggest that the Baltic population of A. oxyrinchus descended from a relatively small number of founders originating from the northern extent of the species' range in North America. These results demonstrate that the most northerly distributed North American A. oxyrinchus colonized the Baltic Sea approximately 1,200 years ago, suggesting that Canadian specimens should be the primary source of broodstock used for restoration in Baltic rivers. This study illustrates the great potential of patterns obtained from ancient DNA to identify population-of-origin to investigate historic genotype structure of extinct populations.BMC Evolutionary Biology 02/2008; 8:221. · 3.52 Impact Factor -
Article: Coat Color Variation at the Beginning of Horse Domestication
Science, v.324, 485-485 (2009). -
Article: First evidence of hybridization between endangered sterlets (Acipenser ruthenus) and exotic Siberian sturgeons (Acipenser baerii) in the Danube River
Biological Invasions, v.11, 753-760 (2009).
Top co-authors
Top Journals
- BMC Evolutionary Biology (2)
- Science (1)
- Nature Communications (1)
Institutions
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2011
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Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
- Abteilung für Evolutionäre Genetik
Leipzig, Saxony, Germany
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2009
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Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung
Berlin, Land Berlin, Germany
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