TY  - JOUR
A1  - Xiang, Hai
A1  - Gao, Jianqiang
A1  - Yu, Baoquan
A1  - Zhou, Hui
A1  - Cai, Dawei
A1  - Zhang, Youwen
A1  - Chen, Xiaoyong
A1  - Wang, Xi
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
A1  - Zhao, Xingbo
T1  - Early Holocene chicken domestication in northern China
JF  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
N2  - Chickens represent by far the most important poultry species, yet the number, locations, and timings of their domestication have remained controversial for more than a century. Here we report ancient mitochondrial DNA sequences from the earliest archaeological chicken bones from China, dating back to similar to 10,000 B.P. The results clearly show that all investigated bones, including the oldest from the Nanzhuangtou site, are derived from the genus Gallus, rather than any other related genus, such as Phasianus. Our analyses also suggest that northern China represents one region of the earliest chicken domestication, possibly dating as early as 10,000 y B.P. Similar to the evidence from pig domestication, our results suggest that these early domesticated chickens contributed to the gene pool of modern chicken populations. Moreover, our results support the idea that multiple members of the genus Gallus, specifically Gallus gallus and Gallus sonneratii contributed to the gene pool of the modern domestic chicken. Our results provide further support for the growing evidence of an early mixed agricultural complex in northern China.
KW  - ancient DNA
KW  - chicken
KW  - domestication
KW  - species origin
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1411882111
SN  - 0027-8424
VL  - 111
IS  - 49
SP  - 17564
EP  - 17569
PB  - National Acad. of Sciences
CY  - Washington
ER  -