Genomes 'pin the tail' on donkey domestication
Embargoed until:
Publicly released:
2020-12-09 03:00
Although donkeys have played a major role in many human cultures, exactly where they were first domesticated has been hard to establish, partly because they feature less prominently than horses and camels in archaeological and historical records (except our beloved Eeyore, of course). Aussie and international researchers analysed the genomes of 126 domestic donkeys and seven wild asses from across three species. They found all modern domestic donkeys seem to share a common ancestor at least 6,000 years ago, which is much more recent than other studies that made estimates using mitochondrial DNA. In addition to confirming 1–2 origins of domestic donkeys in Africa, the authors find that like horses, domestic donkeys have fewer male than female ancestors, suggesting breeding practices involving a limited number of lucky studs. No word yet on whether there was a dragon or green ogre involved, however.
Journal/conference: Nature Communications
Link to research (DOI): 10.1038/s41467-020-19813-7
Organisation/s: The University of Western Australia
Funder: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 31671287 and 31601007), Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (grant no. CXGC2016C02), Well-bred Program of Shandong Province (grant no. 2017LZGC020), Joint Innovation Funds of Dong E. E. Jiao and Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Taishan Leading Industry Talents-Agricultural Science of Shandong Province (grant no. LJNY201713), and Shandong Province Modern Agricultural Technology System Donkey Industrial Innovation Team (grant no. SDAIT-27).
Media release
From: Springer Nature
2. Genetics: Genomes 'pin the tail' on donkey domestication
Insights into the domestication of donkeys are revealed in an analysis of sequenced genomes published in Nature Communications. The study also reports that the same gene is responsible for the ancestral dun coat colour found in all wild asses and horses, and some of their domesticated counterparts.
Although donkeys have played a major role in many human cultures, exactly where they were first domesticated has been hard to establish, partly because they feature less prominently than horses and camels in archaeological and historical records. Like many domesticated animals, donkeys and horses display a much wider range of coat colours and patterns compared to their wild ancestors. The three species of wild ass (the Tibetan kiang, the onager, and the Somali wild ass) and the wild Przewalski’s horse of Mongolia all have dun coats — a grey or tan coat highlighted with a few darker coloured body areas.
Jifeng Zhong and colleagues analysed the genomes of 126 domestic donkeys and seven wild asses from across the three species. Whole-genome data suggest all modern domestic donkeys shared a common ancestor at least 6,000 years ago, which is much more recent than estimates based on maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA. In addition to confirming 1–2 origins of domestic donkeys in Africa, the authors find that like horses, domestic donkeys have fewer male than female ancestors, suggesting breeding practices involving a limited number of studs. They also show that the same gene, TBX3, is responsible for dun coats in both donkeys and horses, and that like horses, domesticated donkeys with non-dun coat colours (black or chestnut) have part of this gene deleted.
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