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Science 24 April 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5926, pp. 532 - 536
DOI: 10.1126/science.1170587
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Reports

Revealing the History of Sheep Domestication Using Retrovirus Integrations

Bernardo Chessa,1,2 Filipe Pereira,3 Frederick Arnaud,1 Antonio Amorim,3 Félix Goyache,4 Ingrid Mainland,5 Rowland R. Kao,1 Josephine M. Pemberton,6 Dario Beraldi,6 Michael J. Stear,1 Alberto Alberti,2 Marco Pittau,2 Leopoldo Iannuzzi,7 Mohammad H. Banabazi,8 Rudovick R. Kazwala,9 Ya-ping Zhang,10 Juan J. Arranz,11 Bahy A. Ali,12 Zhiliang Wang,13 Metehan Uzun,14 Michel M. Dione,15 Ingrid Olsaker,16 Lars-Erik Holm,17 Urmas Saarma,18 Sohail Ahmad,19 Nurbiy Marzanov,20 Emma Eythorsdottir,21 Martin J. Holland,22,23 Paolo Ajmone-Marsan,24 Michael W. Bruford,25 Juha Kantanen,26 Thomas E. Spencer,27 Massimo Palmarini1,*

The domestication of livestock represented a crucial step in human history. By using endogenous retroviruses as genetic markers, we found that sheep differentiated on the basis of their "retrotype" and morphological traits dispersed across Eurasia and Africa via separate migratory episodes. Relicts of the first migrations include the Mouflon, as well as breeds previously recognized as "primitive" on the basis of their morphology, such as the Orkney, Soay, and the Nordic short-tailed sheep now confined to the periphery of northwest Europe. A later migratory episode, involving sheep with improved production traits, shaped the great majority of present-day breeds. The ability to differentiate genetically primitive sheep from more modern breeds provides valuable insights into the history of sheep domestication.

1 Institute of Comparative Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK.
2 Dipartimento di Patologia e Clinica Veterinaria, Universita’ degli Studi di Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
3 Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
4 Área de Genética y Reproducción Animal, SERIDA-Somió, E-33203 Gijón, Spain.
5 Division of Archaelogical, Geographical and Environmental Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK.
6 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.
7 National Research Council (CNR), ISPAAM, 80147 Naples, Italy.
8 Department of Biotechnology, Animal Science Research Institute of Iran (ASRI), 3146618361 Karaj, Iran.
9 Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogor, Tanzania.
10 State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China.
11 Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinária, Universidad de León, 24071 León, Spain.
12 Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Research Institute, Mubarak City for Scientific Research and Technology Applications, New Borg El-Arab City, 21934, Alexandria, Egypt.
13 National Diagnostic Center for Exotic Animal Diseases, China Animal Health and Epidemiology Centers, Qingdao 266032, China.
14 School of Health Science, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, 17100 Canakkale, Turkey.
15 International Trypanotolerance Centre, Banjul, Gambia.
16 Department of Basic Sciences and Aquatic Medicine, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, 0033 Oslo, Norway.
17 Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.
18 Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.
19 NWFP Agricultural University, Peshwar, Pakistan.
20 All-Russian Research Institute of Animal Husbandry, Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dubrovitsy 142132, Russia.
21 Agricultural University of Iceland, Hvanneyri, IS-311 Borgarnes, Iceland.
22 Medical Research Council Laboratories, Fajara, Banjul, Gambia.
23 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK.
24 Istituto di Zootecnica, Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29100 Piacenza, Italy.
25 School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK.
26 Biotechnology and Food Research, MTT Agrifood Research Finland, 31600 Jokioinen, Finland.
27 Center for Animal Biotechnology and Genomics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.palmarini{at}vet.gla.ac.uk

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