Sheep have been one of the most important groups of animals since ancient times.However,the knowledge of their migration routes and genetic relationships is still poorly understood.To investigate sheep maternal migrat...Sheep have been one of the most important groups of animals since ancient times.However,the knowledge of their migration routes and genetic relationships is still poorly understood.To investigate sheep maternal migration histories alongside Eurasian communications routes,in this study,we obtain mitochondrial genomes(mitogenomes)from 17 sheep remains in 6 Chinese sites and 1 Uzbekistan site dated 4429–3100 years before present(BP).By obtaining the mitogenomes from the sheep(4429–3556 BP)found in the Tongtian Cave site in Xinjiang,Altai region of northwest China,our results support the emergence of haplogroup C sheep in Xinjiang as early as 4429–3556 BP.The combined phylogenetic analyses with extant ancient and modern sheep mitogenomes suggest that the Uzbekistan-Altai region may have been a migration hub for early sheep in eastern Asia.At least two migration events have taken place for sheep crossing Eurasia to China,one passing by Uzbekistan and Northwest China to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River at approximately 4000 BP and another following the Altai region to middle Inner Mongolia from 4429 BP to 2500 BP.Overall,this study provides further evidence for early sheep utilization and migration patterns in Eastern Asia.展开更多
基金funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2021YFF1000701)the Young S&T Talent Training Program of Guangdong Provincial Association for S&T,China(SKXRC202205)+1 种基金the Foundation for the Creative Team and Key Laboratory in Higher Education of Guangdong(2019KCXTD006 and 2019KSYS011)the National Natural Science Foundations of China(31961133031)。
文摘Sheep have been one of the most important groups of animals since ancient times.However,the knowledge of their migration routes and genetic relationships is still poorly understood.To investigate sheep maternal migration histories alongside Eurasian communications routes,in this study,we obtain mitochondrial genomes(mitogenomes)from 17 sheep remains in 6 Chinese sites and 1 Uzbekistan site dated 4429–3100 years before present(BP).By obtaining the mitogenomes from the sheep(4429–3556 BP)found in the Tongtian Cave site in Xinjiang,Altai region of northwest China,our results support the emergence of haplogroup C sheep in Xinjiang as early as 4429–3556 BP.The combined phylogenetic analyses with extant ancient and modern sheep mitogenomes suggest that the Uzbekistan-Altai region may have been a migration hub for early sheep in eastern Asia.At least two migration events have taken place for sheep crossing Eurasia to China,one passing by Uzbekistan and Northwest China to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River at approximately 4000 BP and another following the Altai region to middle Inner Mongolia from 4429 BP to 2500 BP.Overall,this study provides further evidence for early sheep utilization and migration patterns in Eastern Asia.
