A genetically unique Chinese cattle population shows evidence of common ancestry with wild species when analysed with a reduced ascertainment bias SNP panel.

ABSTRACT: In Hong Kong, there is a cattle population of ~1,200 individuals of uncertain origin and genetic diversity. This population shows heterogeneous morphology, both in body type and pigmentation. Once used as draught animals by the local farmers, they were abandoned around the 1970s due to changes in the economy, and since then have lived as feral populations. To explore the origins of these cattle, we analysed ~50k genotype data of 21 Hong Kong feral cattle, along with data from 703 individuals of 36 cattle populations of European, African taurine, and Asian origin, the wild x domestic hybrid gayal, plus two wild bovine species, gaur and banteng. To reduce the effect of ascertainment bias ~4k loci that are polymorphic in the two wild species were selected for further analysis. The stringent S

SUBMITTER: Barbato M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7145104 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature