TY  - JOUR
A1  - Almathen, Faisal
A1  - Charruau, Pauline
A1  - Mohandesan, Elmira
A1  - Mwacharo, Joram M.
A1  - Orozco-terWengel, Pablo
A1  - Pitt, Daniel
A1  - Abdussamad, Abdussamad M.
A1  - Uerpmann, Margarethe
A1  - Uerpmann, Hans-Peter
A1  - De Cupere, Bea
A1  - Magee, Peter
A1  - Alnaqeeb, Majed A.
A1  - Salim, Bashir
A1  - Raziq, Abdul
A1  - Dessie, Tadelle
A1  - Abdelhadi, Omer M.
A1  - Banabazi, Mohammad H.
A1  - Al-Eknah, Marzook
A1  - Walzer, Chris
A1  - Fayer, Bernard
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
A1  - Peters, Joris
A1  - Hanotte, Olivier
A1  - Burger, Pamela A.
T1  - Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary
JF  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
N2  - Dromedaries have been fundamental to the development of human societies in arid landscapes and for long-distance trade across hostile hot terrains for 3,000 y. Today they continue to be an important livestock resource in marginal agro-ecological zones. However, the history of dromedary domestication and the influence of ancient trading networks on their genetic structure have remained elusive. We combined ancient DNA sequences of wild and early-domesticated dromedary samples from arid regions with nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial genotype information from 1,083 extant animals collected across the species’ range. We observe little phylogeographic signal in the modern population, indicative of extensive gene flow and virtually affecting all regions except East Africa, where dromedary populations have remained relatively isolated. In agreement with archaeological findings, we identify wild dromedaries from the southeast Arabian Peninsula among the founders of the domestic dromedary gene pool. Approximate Bayesian computations further support the “restocking from the wild” hypothesis, with an initial domestication followed by introgression from individuals from wild, now-extinct populations. Compared with other livestock, which show a long history of gene flow with their wild ancestors, we find a high initial diversity relative to the native distribution of the wild ancestor on the Arabian Peninsula and to the brief coexistence of early-domesticated and wild individuals. This study also demonstrates the potential to retrieve ancient DNA sequences from osseous remains excavated in hot and dry desert environments.
KW  - anthropogenic admixture
KW  - Camelus dromedarius
KW  - demographic history
KW  - paleogenetics
KW  - wild dromedary
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1519508113
SN  - 0027-8424
VL  - 113
SP  - 6707
EP  - 6712
PB  - National Acad. of Sciences
CY  - Washington
ER  -