European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia.
The role of European wild horses in horse domestication is poorly understood. While the fossil record for wild horses in Europe prior to horse domestication is scarce, there have been suggestions that wild populations from various European regions might have contributed to the gene pool of domestic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2011-03-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3068172?pdf=render |
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| author | Vera Warmuth Anders Eriksson Mim A Bower Javier Cañon Gus Cothran Ottmar Distl Marie-Louise Glowatzki-Mullis Harriet Hunt Cristina Luís Maria do Mar Oom Isabel Tupac Yupanqui Tomasz Ząbek Andrea Manica |
| author_facet | Vera Warmuth Anders Eriksson Mim A Bower Javier Cañon Gus Cothran Ottmar Distl Marie-Louise Glowatzki-Mullis Harriet Hunt Cristina Luís Maria do Mar Oom Isabel Tupac Yupanqui Tomasz Ząbek Andrea Manica |
| author_sort | Vera Warmuth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The role of European wild horses in horse domestication is poorly understood. While the fossil record for wild horses in Europe prior to horse domestication is scarce, there have been suggestions that wild populations from various European regions might have contributed to the gene pool of domestic horses. To distinguish between regions where domestic populations are mainly descended from local wild stock and those where horses were largely imported, we investigated patterns of genetic diversity in 24 European horse breeds typed at 12 microsatellite loci. The distribution of high levels of genetic diversity in Europe coincides with the distribution of predominantly open landscapes prior to domestication, as suggested by simulation-based vegetation reconstructions, with breeds from Iberia and the Caspian Sea region having significantly higher genetic diversity than breeds from central Europe and the UK, which were largely forested at the time the first domestic horses appear there. Our results suggest that not only the Eastern steppes, but also the Iberian Peninsula provided refugia for wild horses in the Holocene, and that the genetic contribution of these wild populations to local domestic stock may have been considerable. In contrast, the consistently low levels of diversity in central Europe and the UK suggest that domestic horses in these regions largely derive from horses that were imported from the Eastern refugium, the Iberian refugium, or both. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T00:40:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7d54ff4d6e044ed3a47a9b764688ae4e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T00:40:12Z |
| publishDate | 2011-03-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-7d54ff4d6e044ed3a47a9b764688ae4e2022-12-22T00:44:16ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032011-03-0163e1819410.1371/journal.pone.0018194European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia.Vera WarmuthAnders ErikssonMim A BowerJavier CañonGus CothranOttmar DistlMarie-Louise Glowatzki-MullisHarriet HuntCristina LuísMaria do Mar OomIsabel Tupac YupanquiTomasz ZąbekAndrea ManicaThe role of European wild horses in horse domestication is poorly understood. While the fossil record for wild horses in Europe prior to horse domestication is scarce, there have been suggestions that wild populations from various European regions might have contributed to the gene pool of domestic horses. To distinguish between regions where domestic populations are mainly descended from local wild stock and those where horses were largely imported, we investigated patterns of genetic diversity in 24 European horse breeds typed at 12 microsatellite loci. The distribution of high levels of genetic diversity in Europe coincides with the distribution of predominantly open landscapes prior to domestication, as suggested by simulation-based vegetation reconstructions, with breeds from Iberia and the Caspian Sea region having significantly higher genetic diversity than breeds from central Europe and the UK, which were largely forested at the time the first domestic horses appear there. Our results suggest that not only the Eastern steppes, but also the Iberian Peninsula provided refugia for wild horses in the Holocene, and that the genetic contribution of these wild populations to local domestic stock may have been considerable. In contrast, the consistently low levels of diversity in central Europe and the UK suggest that domestic horses in these regions largely derive from horses that were imported from the Eastern refugium, the Iberian refugium, or both.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3068172?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Vera Warmuth Anders Eriksson Mim A Bower Javier Cañon Gus Cothran Ottmar Distl Marie-Louise Glowatzki-Mullis Harriet Hunt Cristina Luís Maria do Mar Oom Isabel Tupac Yupanqui Tomasz Ząbek Andrea Manica European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia. PLoS ONE |
| title | European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia. |
| title_full | European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia. |
| title_fullStr | European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia. |
| title_full_unstemmed | European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia. |
| title_short | European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia. |
| title_sort | european domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3068172?pdf=render |
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