Genetic origin of goat populations in Oman revealed by mitochondrial DNA analysis

Abstract

The Sultanate of Oman has a complex mosaic of livestock species and production systems, but the genetic diversity, demographic history or origins of these Omani animals has not been expensively studied. Goats might constitute one of the most abundant and important domestic livestock species since the Neolithic transition. Here, we examined the genetic diversity, origin, population structure and demographic history of Omani goats. Specifically, we analyzed a 525-bp fragment of the first hypervariable region of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region from 69 Omani individuals and compared this fragment with 17 mtDNA sequences from Somalia and Yemen as well as 18 wild goat species and 1,198 previously published goat sequences from neighboring countries. The studied goat breeds show substantial diversity. The haplotype and nucleotide diversities of Omani goats were found equal to 0.983 ± 0.006 and 0.0284 ± 0.014, respectively. The phylogenetic analyses allowed us to classify Omani goats into three mtDNA haplogroups (A, B and G): haplogroup A was found to be predominant and widely distributed and accounted for 80% of all samples, and haplogroups B and G exhibited low frequencies. Phylogenetic comparisons with wild goats revealed that five of the native Omani goat populations originate from Capra aegagrus. Furthermore, most comparisons of pairwise population FST values within and between these five Omani goat breeds as well as between Omani goats and nine populations from nearby countries were not significant. These results suggest strong gene flow among goat populations caused by the extensive transport of goats and the frequent movements of human populations in ancient Arabia. The findings improve our understanding of the migration routes of modern goats from their region of domestication into southeastern Arabia and thereby shed light on human migratory and commercial networks during historical times.

Maternal origins, population structure and demographic history of ten Chinese indigenous goat breeds from Yunnan

“…We analysed the sequence variation of 10 Chinese indigenous goat breeds using mtDNA control region HVSI sequences to detect their maternal origins, population structure and demographic history. The results revealed the level of nucleotide diversity of Yunnan breeds (0.036 ± 0.001) is higher than that of 17 goat breeds in Southwest China (0.0336 ± 0.0008) (Zhao et al, 2014a), Chinese goats (0.032 ± 0.001) (Zhao et al, 2014b) and Omani goats (0.0284 ± 0.014) (Al-Araimi et al, 2017), showing abundant mtDNA diversity in Yunnan local goats. These result were similar to previously reported results based on microsatellite markers (E et al, 2019).…”

Genome-wide diversity and demographic dynamics of Cameroon goats and their divergence from east African, north African, and Asian conspecifics

“…Modern maternal DNA analysis shows that, of six globally identified mtDNA haplogroups, three (A, B and G) are present in Africa [21, 22]. Haplogroup A has been observed in all regions of the continent, haplogroup B is limited to South Africa and Namibia [22], and haplogroup G has been reported in Egypt [22], Kenya [23], Somalia and Sudan [24, 25], and Ethiopia [20]. However, there is no documented information on the maternal origin of the goat populations in many African countries.…”

Collagen fingerprinting traces the introduction of caprines to island Eastern Africa

“…This idea is worth considering in the light of the fact that at least one other large domesticated bovid, the zebu, was likely introduced to eastern Africa from South Asia through Indian Ocean trade [114–116]. Maritime routes of introduction have also been proposed for goat in other regions of the Indian Ocean [117,118], lending further support to this hypothesis. However, until further genetic work can be undertaken on modern and/or ancient goats to assess phylogeographic relationships (for review see [119]), the most parsimonious explanation is that caprines were introduced to the islands from the mainland.…”