Abstract
The origin of domestic cattle has perplexed archaeologists for more than a century. Researchers have proposed various theories, which offer alternative spatial and chronological models for the origin and spread of domesticated cattle. One point of discussion is whether domestic cattle had a single or multiple origins; however, most authorities considered that the first steps towards cattle domestication were taken in southwest Asia and that domesticated cattle entered Europe with pastoralists migrating from this region. Domesticated taurine cattle were thought to have entered Africa in successive waves from southwest Asia, while zebu cattle migrated into Africa at a later date from Arabia and the Indian subcontinent. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) shows that taurine and zebu cattle divergence before the Holocene and were probably domesticated independently. Recent mtDNA sequence data shows that African and European taurine cattle were probably domesticated independently, but that there was a process of genetic introgression between taurine and zebu cattle in Africa. Ancient DNA studies over the last 10 years suggest that Northern European aurochsens apparently contributed little or nothing to domestic cattle while Southern European aurochsens apparently made a significant input. However, Middle Eastern aurochsen, unfortunately not typed yet, are expected to be to be very similar to European breeds as well, both because archeological data suggest that the major center of domestication for European Bos taurus breeds was the Fertile Crescent (9), and also because a mtDNA sequence from a Syrian specimen dated at 8,000–9,000 years ago shows a typical European haplotype found both in modern breeds and the Italian aurochsen. Evidence seems to suggest that small to moderate levels of local gene flow from wild Bos primigenius females in selected breeds were either accepted or may be reinforced by Neolithic breeders.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allchin FR (1963) Neolithic cattle-keepers of South India: A study of the Deccan Ashmounds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Allchin FR (1969) Early domestic animals in India and Pakistan. In: Ucko PJ, Dimbleby GW (eds) The domestication and exploitation of plants and animals. Duckworth, London, pp 317–322
Astolfi P, Pagnacco G, Guglielmino-Matessi CR (1983) Phylogenetic analysis of native Italian cattle breeds. Z Tierz Zücht Biol 100:87–100
Avise JC (1991) Ten unorthodox perspectives on evolution prompted by comparative population genetic findings on mitochondrial DNA. Annu Rev Genet 25:45–69
Avise JC (1994) Molecular markers, natural history and evolution, 1st edn. Chapman & Hall, New York
Baker CMA, Manwell C (1980) Chemical classification of cattle. 1. Breed groups. Anim Blood Groups Biochem Genet 11:127–150
Baker CMA, Manwell C (1991) Population genetics, molecular markers and gene conservation of bovine breeds. In: Hickman CG, Neimann-Sørensen A, Tribe DE (eds) Cattle genetic resources, World animal science, vol. B7, 1st edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 221–304
Bangham AD, Blumberg BS (1958) Distributions of electrophoretically different hæmoglobin among some cattle breeds of Europe and Africa. Nature 181:1551–1552
Bailey JF, Richards MB, Macaulay VA, Colson IB, James IT, Bradley DG, Hedges RE, Sykes BC (1996) Ancient DNA suggests a recent expansion of European cattle from a diverse wild progenitor species. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 263:1467–1473
Beja-Pereira A, Luikart G, England PR, Bradley DG, Jann OC, Bertorelle G, Chamberlaina T, Nunes TP, Metodiev S, Ferrand N, Erhardt G (2003) Gen-culture coevollution between cattle milk protein genes and human lactase genes. Nat Genet 35
Bell K (1983) The blood groups of domestic mammals. In: Agar NS, Board PG (eds) Red blood cells of domestic mammals. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 133–164
Bersaglieri T, Sabeti PC, Patterson N, Vanderploeg T, Schaffner SF, Drake JA, Rhodes M, Reich DE, Hirschhorn JN (2004) Genetic signatures of strong recent positive selection at the lactase gene. Am J Hum Genet 74:1111–1120
Bhat PP, Mishra BP, Bhat PN (1990) Polymorphism of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in cattle and buffaloes. Biochem Genet 28(7/8):311–318
Botstein D, White RL, Skolnick M, Davis RW (1980) Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Am J Hum Genet 32:314–331
Bradley DG, Machugh DE, Loftus RT, Sow RS, Hoste CH, Cunningham EP (1994) Zebu-taurine variation in Y chromosomal DNA: a sensitive assay for genetic introgression in West African trypanotolerant cattle populations. Anim Genet 25:7–12
Bradley DG, Machugh DE, Cunningham P, Loftus RT (1996) Mitochondrial diversity and the origins of African and European cattle. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:5131–5135
Brænd M (1972) Studies on the relationships between cattle breeds in Africa, Asia and Europe: evidence obtained by studies of blood groups and protein polymorphisms. World Rev Anim Prod 8:9–14
Bramanti B, Hummel S, Chiarelli B, Herrmann B (2003) Ancient DNA analysis of the delta F508 mutation. Hum Biol 75:105–115
Britten RJ, Kohne DE (1968) Repeated sequences in DNA. Science 161:529–540
Cann RL, Stoneking M, Wilson AC (1987) Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution. Nature 325:31–36
Cavalli-Sforza LL (1969) Human diversity. In: Proc. 12th Intl. Cong. Genet., vol 3. Tokyo, 1969,pp 405–416
Cavalli-Sforza LL, Piazza A, Menozzi P, Mountain J (1988) Reconstruction of human evolution: Bringing together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic data. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:6002–6006
Cavalli-Sforza LL, Menozzi P, Piazza A (1994) The history and geography of human genes. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Cooper A, Poinar HN (2000) Ancient DNA: Do it right or not at all. Science 289:1139
Denbow JR, Wilmsen EN (1986) Advent and course of pastoralism in the Kalahari. Science 234:1509–1515
Edwards CJ, Machugh DE, Dobney KM, Martin L et al. (2004) Ancient DNA analysis of 101 cattle remains: limits and prospects. J Archaeol Sci 31:695–710
Epstein H, Mason IL (1984) Cattle. In: Mason IL (ed) Evolution of domesticated animals, 1st edn. Longman, London, pp 6–27
Giles RE, Blanc H, Cann HM, Wallace DC (1980) Maternal inheritance of human mitochondrial DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 77:6715–6719
Grigson C (1978) The craniology and relationships of four species of Bos. IV. The relationship between Bos primigenius Boj. and Bos taurus L. and its implications for the phylogeny of the domestic breeds. J Archaeol Sci 5:123–152
Grigson C (1980) The craniology and relationships of four species of Bos. 5. Bos indicus L. J Archaeol Sci 7:3–32
Grigson C (1991) An African origin for African cattle?—some archaeological evidence. Afric Archaeol Rev 9:119–144
Gupta P, Singh L, Ray-Chaudhuri SP (1974) Chromosomes of Indian breeds of cattle. Nucleus 17:129–132
Halnan CRE (1989) Karyotype and phenotype in cattle and hybrids of the genus. In: Hanlan CRE (ed) Cytogenetics of animals. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, pp 235–256
Harris H (1966) Enzyme polymorphisms in man. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 164:298–310
Hedrick PW (1983) Genetics of populations. Science Books International, Boston
Hedrick PW (1992) Shooting the RAPDs. Nature 355:679–680
Hourani A (1991) A history of the Arab peoples. Faber and Faber, London
Huynen L, Millar CD, Scofield RP, Lambert DM (2003) Nuclear DNA sequences detect species limits in ancient moa. Nature 425:175–178
Jarrige J-F, Meadow RH (1980) The antecedents of civilisation in the Indus Valley. Sci Am 243(2):102–110
Jaenicke-Despres V, Buckler ES, Smith BD, Gilbert MT, Cooper A, Doebley J, Paabo S (2004) Early allelic selection in maize as revealed by ancient DNA
Jeffreys AJ, Wilson V, Thein SL (1985) Hypervariable “minisatellite” regions in human DNA. Nature 314:67–73
Jeffreys AJ, Wilson V, Neumann R, Keyte J (1988) Amplification of human minisatellites by the polymerase chain reaction: towards DNA fingerprinting of single cells. Nucleic Acids Res 16:10953–10971
Kidd KK, Cavalli-Sforza LL (1974) The role of genetic drift in the differentiation of Icelandic and Norwegian cattle. Evolution 28:381–395
Kidd KK, Pirchner F (1971) Genetic relationships of Austrian cattle breeds. Anim Blood Groups Biochem Genet 2:145–158
Kidd KK, Stone WH, Crimella C, Carenzi C, Casati M, Rognoni G (1980) Immunogenetic and population genetic analyses of Iberian cattle. Anim Blood Groups Biochem Genet 11:21–38
Kimura M (1968a) Evolutionary rate at the molecular level. Nature 217:624–626
Lewontin RC (1988) On measures of gametic disequilibrium. Genetics 120:849–852
Lewontin RC, Hubby JL (1966) A molecular approach to the study of genic heterozygosity in natural populations. II. Amount of variation and degree of heterozygosity in natural populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura. Genetics 54:595–609
Lewontin RC, Kojima K (1960) The evolutionary dynamics of complex polymorphisms. Evolution 14:458–472
Litt M, Luty JA (1989) A hypervariable microsatellite revealed by in vitro amplification of a dinucleotide repeat within the cardiac muscle actin gene. Am J Hum Genet 44:397–401
Loftus RT (1992) Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of European, African and Indian cattle breeds [PhD thesis]. University of Dublin, 266
Loftus RT, Machugh DE, Bradley DG, Sharp PM, Cunningham EP (1992) Mitochondrial DNA and inferred relationships between European, African and Asian cattle. Anim Genet 23(suppl. 1):65
Loftus RT, Machugh DE, Bradley DG, Sharp PM, Cunningham EP (1994a) Evidence for two independent domestications of cattle. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:2757–2761
Loftus RT, Machugh DE, Ngere LO, Balain DS, Badi AM, Bradley DG, Cunningham EP (1994b) Mitochondrial genetic variation in European, African and Indian cattle populations. Anim Genet 25:265–271
Loftus RT, Ertugrul O, Harba AH, El-Baroyd MAA, Machugh DE, Park SDE, Bradley DG (1999) A microsatellite survey of cattle from a centre of origin: the Near East. Mol Ecol 8:2015–2022
Machugh DE, Loftus RT, Bradley DG, Sharp PM, Cunningham EP (1994) Microsatellite DNA variation within and among European cattle breeds. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 256:25–31
Manwell C, Baker CMA (1980) Chemical classification of cattle. 2. Phylogenetic tree and specific status of the Zebu. Anim Blood Groups Biochem Genet 11:151–162
Maxam AM, Gilbert W (1977) A new method for sequencing DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74:560–564
Meadow RH (1984) Animal domestication in the Middle East: a view from the Eastern margin. In: Clutton-Brock J, Grigson C (eds). Animals and archaeology: 3. Early herders and their flocks. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 309–337 (BAR International Series)
Meadow RH (1989) Osteological evidence for the process of animal domestication. In: Clutton-Brock J (ed) The walking larder: Patterns of domestication, pastoralism and predation. Unwin Hyman, London, pp 80–90
Meadow RH (1993) Animal domestication in the Middle East: A revised view from the Eastern Margin. In: Possehl G (ed) Harappan civilisation, 2nd edn. Oxford & IBH, New Delhi, pp 295–320
Meselson M, Yuan R (1968) DNA restriction enzyme from E. coli. Nature 217:1110–1114
Mullis K, Faloona F, Scharf S, Saiki R, Horn G, Erlich H (1986) Specific enzymatic amplification of DNA in vitro: the polymerase chain reaction. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 51:263–273
Nei M (1972) Genetic distance between populations. Am Nat 106:283–292
Nei M (1973) Analysis of gene diversity in subdivided populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 70:3321–3323
Nei M (1977) F-statistics and analysis of gene diversity in subdivided populations. Ann Hum Genet 41:225–233
Nei M (1978) Estimation of average heterozygosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics 89:583–590
Nei M (1987) Molecular evolutionary genetics. Columbia University Press, New York
Nei M (1995) Genetic support for the out-of-Africa theory of human evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:6720–6722
Pääbo S, Poiner H, Serre D, Jaenicke-Dupreés V, Hebler J, Rohland N, Kuch M, Krause J,Vigilant L, Hofreiter M (2004) Genetic analyses from ancient DNA. Annu Rev Genet 38:645–679
Pauling L, Itano HA, Singer SJ, Wells IC (1949) Sickle-cell anemia, a molecular disease. Science 110:543–548
Payne WJA (1970) Cattle production in the tropics, 1st edn. Longman, London
Payne WJA (1991) Domestication: a forward step in civilisation. In: Hickman CG, Neimannsørensen A, Tribe DE (eds) Cattle genetic resources. World animal science, vol B7. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 51–72
Perkins D Jr (1969) Fauna of Çatal Hüyük: Evidence for early cattle domestication in Anatolia. Science 164(3875):177–178
Poinar H, Kuch M, Mcdonald G, Martin P, Pääbo S (2003) Nuclear gene sequences from a Late Pleistocene sloth coprolites. Curr Biol 12:1150–1152
Reed CA (ed) (1977) Origins of agriculture. Monton Publishers, The Hague and Paris
Ricaut FX, Fedoseeva A, Keyser-Tracqui C, Crubezy E, Ludes B (2004) Ancient DNA analysis of human Neolithic remains found in northeastern Siberia. Am J Phys Anthropol 2004
Saiki RK, Gelfand DH, Stoffel S, Scharf SJ, Higuchi R, Horn GT, Mullis KB, Erlichha (1988) Primer-directed enzymatic amplification of DNA with a thermostabile DNA polymerase. Science 239:487–491
Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR (1977) DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74:5463–5467
Sarich VM, Wilson AC (1967) Immunological time scale for hominid evolution. Science 158:1200–1203
Sibley CG, Ahlquist JE (1990) Phylogeny and classification of birds. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
Sibley CG, Comstock JA, Ahlquist JE (1990) DNA hybridisation evidence of hominoidphylogeny: a reanalysis of the data. J Mol Evol 30:202–236
Southern EM (1975) Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol 98:503–517
Stoneking M, Sherry ST, Redd AJ, Vigilant L (1992) New approaches to dating suggest a recent age for the human mtDNA ancestor. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 337:167–175
Suzuki R, Kemp SJ, Teale AJ (1993) Polymerase chain reaction analysis of mitochondrial DNA polymorphism in N’Dama and Zebu cattle. Anim Genet 24:339–343
Tautz D (1989) Hypervariability of simple sequences as a general source for polymorphic DNA markers. Nucleic Acids Res 17(16):6463–6471
Tautz D, Renz M (1984) Simple sequences are ubiquitous repetitive components of eukaryotic genomes. Nucleic Acids Res 12(10):4127–4138
Tautz D, Schlötterer C (1994) Simple sequences. Curr Opin Genet Dev 4:832–837
Tautz D, Trick M, Dover GA (1986) Cryptic simplicity in DNA is a major source of genetic variation. Nature 322:652–656
Teale AJ, Wambuga J, Gwakisa PS, Stranzinger G, Bradley D, Kemp SJ (1995) Apolymorphism in randomly amplified DNA that differentiates the Y chromosomes of Bos indicus and Bos taurus. Anim Genet 26:243–248
Trinkaus E (2001) The Neanderthal paradox. In: Finlayson C (ed) Neanderthals and modern humans in late pleistocene Eurasia. Gibraltar Museum (Gibraltar), pp 73–74
Troy CS, Machugh DE, Bailey JF, Magee DA, Loftus RT, Cunningham P, Chamberlain AT, Sykes BC, Bradley DG (2001) Genetic evidence for Near-Eastern origins of European cattle. Nature 410:1088–1091
Vernesi C, Pecchioli E, Caramelli D, Tiedemann R, Randi E, Bertorelle G (2002) Thegenetic structure of natural and reintroduced roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) populations in the Alps and central Italy, with reference to the mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of Europe. Mol Ecol 11:1285–1297
Vigilant L, Stoneking M, Harpending H, Hawkes K, Wilson AC (1991) African populations and the evolution of human mitochondrial DNA. Science 253:1503–1507
Von Graml R, Ohmayer G, Pirchner F, Erhard L, Buchberger J, Mostageer A (1986) Biochemical polymorphism in Egyptian Baladi cattle and their relationship with other breeds. Anim Genet 17:61–76
Wainscoat JS, Hill AVS, Boyce AL, Flint J, Hernandez M, Thein SL, Old JM, Lynch JR, Falusi AG, Weatherall DJ, Clegg JB (1986) Evolutionary relationships of human populations from an analysis of nuclear DNA polymorphisms. Nature 319:491–493
Weber JL, May PE (1989) Abundant class of human DNA polymorphisms which can be typed using the polymerase chain reaction. Am J Hum Genet 44:388–396
Wendorf F, Schild R (1994) Are the early Holocene cattle in the Eastern Sahara domestic or wild? Evol Anthropol 3:118–128
Whitehouse RD (ed) (1983) The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology. Macmillan Press, London
Williams JGK, Kubelik AR, Livak J, Rafalski JA, Tingey SV (1990) DNA polymorphisms amplified by arbitrary primers are useful as genetic markers. Nucleic Acids Res 18:6531–6535
Wills C (1995) When did Eve live? An evolutionary detective story. Evolution 49(4):593–607
Zeuner FE (1963a) A history of domesticated animals. Hutchinson, London
Zeuner FE (1963b) The history of the domestication of cattle. In: Mourant AE, Zeuner FE (eds) Man and cattle, vol 18. Royal anthropological institute of Great Britain and Ireland, pp 9–20
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Caramelli, D. The Origins of Domesticated Cattle. Human Evolution 21, 107–122 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11598-006-9013-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11598-006-9013-x