TY - JOUR
T1 - European domestic horses originated in two holocene refugia
AU - Warmuth, Vera
AU - Eriksson, Anders
AU - Bower, Mim A.
AU - Cañon, Javier
AU - Cothran, Gus
AU - Distl, Ottmar
AU - Glowatzki-Mullis, Marie Louise
AU - Hunt, Harriet
AU - Luís, Cristina
AU - do Mar Oom, Maria
AU - Yupanqui, Isabel Tupac
AU - Za̧bek, Tomasz
AU - Manica, Andrea
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - The role of European wild horses in horse domestication is poorly understood. While the fossil record for wild horses in Europe prior to horse domestication is scarce, there have been suggestions that wild populations from various European regions might have contributed to the gene pool of domestic horses. To distinguish between regions where domestic populations are mainly descended from local wild stock and those where horses were largely imported, we investigated patterns of genetic diversity in 24 European horse breeds typed at 12 microsatellite loci. The distribution of high levels of genetic diversity in Europe coincides with the distribution of predominantly open landscapes prior to domestication, as suggested by simulation-based vegetation reconstructions, with breeds from Iberia and the Caspian Sea region having significantly higher genetic diversity than breeds from central Europe and the UK, which were largely forested at the time the first domestic horses appear there. Our results suggest that not only the Eastern steppes, but also the Iberian Peninsula provided refugia for wild horses in the Holocene, and that the genetic contribution of these wild populations to local domestic stock may have been considerable. In contrast, the consistently low levels of diversity in central Europe and the UK suggest that domestic horses in these regions largely derive from horses that were imported from the Eastern refugium, the Iberian refugium, or both.
AB - The role of European wild horses in horse domestication is poorly understood. While the fossil record for wild horses in Europe prior to horse domestication is scarce, there have been suggestions that wild populations from various European regions might have contributed to the gene pool of domestic horses. To distinguish between regions where domestic populations are mainly descended from local wild stock and those where horses were largely imported, we investigated patterns of genetic diversity in 24 European horse breeds typed at 12 microsatellite loci. The distribution of high levels of genetic diversity in Europe coincides with the distribution of predominantly open landscapes prior to domestication, as suggested by simulation-based vegetation reconstructions, with breeds from Iberia and the Caspian Sea region having significantly higher genetic diversity than breeds from central Europe and the UK, which were largely forested at the time the first domestic horses appear there. Our results suggest that not only the Eastern steppes, but also the Iberian Peninsula provided refugia for wild horses in the Holocene, and that the genetic contribution of these wild populations to local domestic stock may have been considerable. In contrast, the consistently low levels of diversity in central Europe and the UK suggest that domestic horses in these regions largely derive from horses that were imported from the Eastern refugium, the Iberian refugium, or both.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79953294553&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0018194
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0018194
M3 - Artículo
C2 - 21479181
AN - SCOPUS:79953294553
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 6
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 3
M1 - e18194
ER -