Cattle domestication in the Near East was followed by hybridization with aurochs bulls in Europe.

ABSTRACT: Domesticated cattle were one of the cornerstones of European Neolithisation and are thought to have been introduced to Europe from areas of aurochs domestication in the Near East. This is consistent with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data, where a clear separation exists between modern European cattle and ancient specimens of British aurochsen. However, we show that Y chromosome haplotypes of north European cattle breeds are more similar to haplotypes from ancient specimens of European aurochsen, than to contemporary cattle breeds from southern Europe and the Near East. There is a sharp north-south gradient across Europe among modern cattle breeds in the frequencies of two distinct Y chromosome haplotypes; the northern haplotype is found in 20 out of 21 European aurochsen or early domestic cat

SUBMITTER: Gotherstrom A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1559968 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature