Image depicting ancient cave paintings of aurochs at Lascaux, France.
Scientists have determined the first mitochondrial DNA genome sequence from extinct giant cattle (aurochs), according to findings published in the scientific journal PloS ONE . Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed down from a mother to her offspring.
Following this discovery, the scientists claim to be able to sequence the complete DNA genome of the aurochs within the next 12 months.
Aurochs are famously featured in the ancient cave paintings at Lascaux, France. They were much larger and more aggressive than their modern descendents. Standing over six feet tall to the shoulder and weighing more than a ton, aurochs were giant wild cattle that roamed the plains of Europe for thousands of years.
European domestic cattle are thought to have descended from aurochs that were domesticated at the dawn of agriculture in the region of the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent. The last recorded aurochs died in Poland in 1627.
“Our results demonstrate the incredible promise that next-generation DNA sequencing holds for archaeogenetics,” says Prof David MacHugh from the UCD Animal Genomics Laboratory and UCD Conway Institute where the DNA sequencing was conducted.
“Once we complete the full nuclear genome sequencing, we can compare the DNA of the aurochs with that of modern domesticated cattle to identify genes associated with improved health, production and behavioural traits which have evolved since cattle were first domesticated almost 10,000 years ago,” he explains.
The team of scientists from UCD, Trinity College Dublin, Oxford University, the University of Sheffield, and the University of Leeds, analysed DNA extracted from a well preserved aurochs leg bone discovered in a cave in Derbyshire, England. The bone is radiocarbon-dated as being approximately 6,500 years old.
“We are within a year of sequencing the complete DNA genome of this extinct animal. All this has only recently become possible through new technologies which allow us to sequence billions of base pairs of DNA in a relatively short time,” adds Prof MacHugh.
The research team has recently started to collaborate with scientists at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville (USDA-ARS Beltsville) to sequence and assemble a complete aurochs nuclear genome sequence within the next 12 months.
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