Premium
Genetic diversity of donkey populations from the putative centers of domestication
Author(s) -
Rosenbom S.,
Costa V.,
AlAraimi N.,
Kefena E.,
AbdelMoneim A. S.,
Abdalla M. A.,
Bakhiet A.,
BejaPereira A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
animal genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2052
pISSN - 0268-9146
DOI - 10.1111/age.12256
Subject(s) - donkey , species richness , domestication , genetic diversity , biology , peninsula , microsatellite , evolutionary biology , genetic variation , ecology , allele , geography , zoology , genetics , demography , population , sociology , gene
Summary Donkey domestication drastically changed ancient transport systems in A frica and A sia, enabling overland circulation of people and goods and influencing the organization of early cities and pastoral societies. Genetic studies based on mt DNA have pointed to the A frican wild ass as the most probable ancestor of the domestic donkey, but questions regarding its center of origin remain unanswered. Endeavoring to pinpoint the geographical origin of domestic donkey, we assessed levels and patterns of genetic diversity at 15 microsatellite loci from eight populations, representing its three hypothesized centers of origin: northeast A frica, the N ear E ast and the A rabian P eninsula. Additionally, we compared the donkey genotypes with those from their wild relative, the A frican wild ass ( Equus africanus somaliensis ) to visualize patterns of differentiation among wild and domestic individuals. Obtained results revealed limited variation in levels of unbiased expected heterozygosity across populations in studied geographic regions (ranging from 0.637 in northeast A frica to 0.679 in the N ear E ast). Both allelic richness (Ar) and private allelic richness presented considerably higher values in northeast A frica and in the A rabian P eninsula. By looking at variation at the country level, for each region, we were able to identify S udan and Y emen as the countries possessing higher allelic richness and, cumulatively, Y emen also presented higher values for private allelic richness. Our results support previously proposed northeast A frica as a putative center of origin, but the high levels of unique diversity in Y emen opens the possibility of considering this region as yet another center of origin for this species.