Abstract
Analysis of DNA from archeological remains is a valuable tool to interpret the history of ancient animal populations. So far most studies of ancient DNA target mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which reveals maternal lineages, but only partially the relationships of current breeds and ancient populations. In this study we explore the feasibility of nuclear DNA analysis. DNA was extracted from 1000-years old cattle bone collected from Ferento, an archeological site in central Italy. Amplification of 15 microsatellite FAO-recommended markers with PCR products yielded genotypes for four markers. Expected heterozygosity was comparable with values of modern breeds, but observed heterozygosity was underestimated due to allelic loss. Genetic distances suggested a position intermediate between (1) Anatolian, Balkan, Sicilian and South-Italian cattle and (2) the Iberian, North-European and Central-European cattle, but also a clear relationship with two central-Italian breeds, Chianina and Romagnola. This suggests that these breeds are derived from medieval cattle living in the same area. Our results illustrate the potential of ancient DNA for reconstructing the history of local cattle husbandry.
Highlights
The study of ancient DNA has developed since about 28 years from the analysis of short segments of mitochondrial DNA to the spectacular whole-genome analysis of close relatives of the Homo sapiens (Higuchi et al, 1984; Pääbo, 1985; Reich et al, 2010)
In this study we demonstrate the feasibility of genotyping microsatellites for the study of cattle of 1000 years ago
This limits a more elaborate analysis of the ancient genotypes, our results reconstruct the history of Italian cattle
Summary
The study of ancient DNA (aDNA) has developed since about 28 years from the analysis of short segments of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to the spectacular whole-genome analysis of close relatives of the Homo sapiens (Higuchi et al, 1984; Pääbo, 1985; Reich et al, 2010). There are several studies carried out with the so called FAO list of microsatellites in almost every continent on a huge amount of individuals of several breeds (AjmoneMarsan and The GLOBALDIV Consortium, 2010) This valuable database could be related to ancient remains in order i. This valuable database could be related to ancient remains in order i. to discover the closeness of ancient individuals to extant populations to understand the type of husbandry and production of the time and ii. to infer the origin, migration and admixture of present breeds
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