The origin of domestication genes in goats

• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz5216
• Publication Date: 2020-05-20T23:14:18Z
• Authors: Zhuqing Zheng; Xihong Wang; Ming Li; Yunjia Li; Zhirui Yang; Xiaolong Wang; Xiangyu Pan; Mian Gong; Yu Zhang; Yingwei Guo; Yu Wang; Jing Liu; Yudong Cai; Qiuming Chen; Moses Okpeku; Licia Colli; Dawei Cai; Kun Wang; Shisheng Huang; Tad S. Sonstegard; Ali Esmailizadeh; Wenguang Zhang; Tingting Zhang; Yangbin Xu; Naiyi Xu; Yi Yang; Jianlin Han; Lei Chen; Joséphine Lesur; Kevin G. Daly; Daniel G. Bradley; Rasmus Heller; Guojie Zhang; Wen Wang; Yulin Chen; Yu Jiang
• Keywords: Introgression; Haplogroup; Gene pool; Ancestor

Goat domestication was critical for agriculture and civilization, but its underlying genetic changes selection regimes remain unclear. Here, we analyze the genomes of worldwide domestic goats, wild caprid species, historical remains, providing evidence an ancient introgression event from a West Caucasian tur-like species to ancestor goats. One introgressed locus with strong signature harbors MUC6 gene, which encodes gastrointestinally secreted mucin. Experiments revealed that nearly fixed haplotype confers enhanced immune resistance gastrointestinal pathogens. Another signal may be related behavior. The selected alleles at these two loci emerged in goats least 7200 8100 years ago, respectively, increased high frequencies concurrent expansion ubiquitous modern mitochondrial haplogroup A. Tracking archaeologically cryptic evolutionary transformations provides new insights into mechanisms animal domestication.