Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary
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...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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National Academy of Sciences
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34506/ |
| _version_ | 1848794870775283712 |
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| author | Almathen, Faisal Charruau, Pauline Mohandesan, Elmira Mwacharo, Joram M. Orozco-terWengel, Pablo Pitt, Daniel Abdussamad, Abdussamad M. Uerpmann, Hans-Peter Uerpmann, Margarethe De Cupere, Bea Magee, Peter Alnaqeeb, Majed A. Salim, Bashir Raziq, Abdul Dessie, Tadelle Abdelhadi, Omer M. Banabazi, Mohammad H. Al-Eknah, Marzook Walzer, Chris Faye, Bernard Hofreiter, Michael Peters, Joris Hanotte, Olivier Burger, Pamela A. |
| author_facet | Almathen, Faisal Charruau, Pauline Mohandesan, Elmira Mwacharo, Joram M. Orozco-terWengel, Pablo Pitt, Daniel Abdussamad, Abdussamad M. Uerpmann, Hans-Peter Uerpmann, Margarethe De Cupere, Bea Magee, Peter Alnaqeeb, Majed A. Salim, Bashir Raziq, Abdul Dessie, Tadelle Abdelhadi, Omer M. Banabazi, Mohammad H. Al-Eknah, Marzook Walzer, Chris Faye, Bernard Hofreiter, Michael Peters, Joris Hanotte, Olivier Burger, Pamela A. |
| author_sort | Almathen, Faisal |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:23:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-34506 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:23:04Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | National Academy of Sciences |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-345062020-05-04T17:56:41Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34506/ Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary Almathen, Faisal Charruau, Pauline Mohandesan, Elmira Mwacharo, Joram M. Orozco-terWengel, Pablo Pitt, Daniel Abdussamad, Abdussamad M. Uerpmann, Hans-Peter Uerpmann, Margarethe De Cupere, Bea Magee, Peter Alnaqeeb, Majed A. Salim, Bashir Raziq, Abdul Dessie, Tadelle Abdelhadi, Omer M. Banabazi, Mohammad H. Al-Eknah, Marzook Walzer, Chris Faye, Bernard Hofreiter, Michael Peters, Joris Hanotte, Olivier Burger, Pamela A. 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. National Academy of Sciences 2016-06-14 Article PeerReviewed Almathen, Faisal, Charruau, Pauline, Mohandesan, Elmira, Mwacharo, Joram M., Orozco-terWengel, Pablo, Pitt, Daniel, Abdussamad, Abdussamad M., Uerpmann, Hans-Peter, Uerpmann, Margarethe, De Cupere, Bea, Magee, Peter, Alnaqeeb, Majed A., Salim, Bashir, Raziq, Abdul, Dessie, Tadelle, Abdelhadi, Omer M., Banabazi, Mohammad H., Al-Eknah, Marzook, Walzer, Chris, Faye, Bernard, Hofreiter, Michael, Peters, Joris, Hanotte, Olivier and Burger, Pamela A. (2016) Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113 (24). pp. 6707-6712. ISSN 1091-6490 http://www.pnas.org/content/113/24/6707 doi:10.1073/pnas.1519508113 doi:10.1073/pnas.1519508113 |
| spellingShingle | Almathen, Faisal Charruau, Pauline Mohandesan, Elmira Mwacharo, Joram M. Orozco-terWengel, Pablo Pitt, Daniel Abdussamad, Abdussamad M. Uerpmann, Hans-Peter Uerpmann, Margarethe De Cupere, Bea Magee, Peter Alnaqeeb, Majed A. Salim, Bashir Raziq, Abdul Dessie, Tadelle Abdelhadi, Omer M. Banabazi, Mohammad H. Al-Eknah, Marzook Walzer, Chris Faye, Bernard Hofreiter, Michael Peters, Joris Hanotte, Olivier Burger, Pamela A. Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary |
| title | Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary |
| title_full | Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary |
| title_fullStr | Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary |
| title_short | Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary |
| title_sort | ancient and modern dna reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34506/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34506/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34506/ |