Ancient cattle genomics, origins, and rapid turnover in the Fertile Crescent

Marta Pereira Verdugo, Victoria E Mullin, Amelie Scheu, Valeria Mattiangeli, Kevin G Daly, Pierpaolo Maisano Delser, Andrew J Hare, Joachim Burger, Matthew J Collins, Ron Kehati, Paula Hesse, Deirdre Fulton, Eberhard W Sauer, Fatemeh A Mohaseb, Hossein Davoudi, Roya Khazaeli, Johanna Lhuillier, Claude Rapin, Saeed Ebrahimi, Mutalib Khasanov, S M Farhad Vahidi, David E MacHugh, Okan Ertuğrul, Chaido Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Adamantios Sampson, George Kazantzis, Ioannis Kontopoulos, Jelena Bulatovic, Ivana Stojanović, Abdesalam Mikdad, Norbert Benecke, Jörg Linstädter, Mikhail Sablin, Robin Bendrey, Lionel Gourichon, Benjamin S Arbuckle, Marjan Mashkour, David Orton, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Matthew D Teasdale, Daniel G Bradley

Genome-wide analysis of 67 ancient Near Eastern cattle, Bos taurus, remains reveals regional variation that has since been obscured by admixture in modern populations. Comparisons of genomes of early domestic cattle to their aurochs progenitors identify diverse origins with separate introgressions of wild stock. A later region-wide Bronze Age shift indicates rapid and widespread introgression of zebu, Bos indicus, from the Indus Valley. This process was likely stimulated at the onset of the current geological age, ~4.2 thousand years ago, by a widespread multicentury drought. In contrast to genome-wide admixture, mitochondrial DNA stasis supports that this introgression was male-driven, suggesting that selection of arid-adapted zebu bulls enhanced herd survival. This human-mediated migration of zebu-derived genetics has continued through millennia, altering tropical herding on each continent.