The Near Eastern origin of cat domestication

The world's domestic cats carry patterns of sequence variation in their genome that reflect a history of domestication and breed development. A genetic assessment of 979 domestic cats and their wild progenitors-Felis silvestris silvestris (European wildcat), F. s. lybica (Near Eastern wildcat), F. s. ornata (central Asian wildcat), F. s. cafra (southern African wildcat), and F. s. bieti (Chinese desert cat)-indicated that each wild group represents a distinctive subspecies of Felis silvestris. Further analysis revealed that cats were domesticated in the Near East, probably coincident with agricultural village development in the Fertile Crescent. Domestic cats derive from at least five founders from across this region, whose descendants were transported across the world by human assistance.     

特种野猪的肉质特性研究

为了给特种野猪的肉质开发利用提供理论依据,进行了含75%野血的特种野猪与家猪的肉质特性比较分析。结果表明:含75%野血的特种野猪肉肉质鲜美、营养丰富,与家猪肉相比,其蛋白质含量高、胆固醇含量低、氨基酸及鲜味氨基酸总含量高、肌内脂肪含量少、亚油酸及亚麻酸含量高。     

开展野猪与家猪杂交养殖 促进养猪业大发展

野猪与家猪杂交养殖,大大提高了猪肉的品质和养猪业的效益,深受人们的喜爱,有着 广阔的发展前景。为推广这一特色养殖项目,帮助广大养殖户更加科学地养好野猪,介绍野猪 与家猪杂交养殖技术,以供参考。     

Identification of Toll-like Receptor (TLR) 4 Gene in Wild Boar

Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 plays an important role in the innate immune system and has been involved in resistance/ susceptibility to a number of diseases as revealed by studies in human and other domestic animals.Wild boar survives in natural environment without artificial interference and may be different from domestic pig in innate immune system.Here,the complete coding sequence of TLR4 and TLR4A was cloned in wild boar,and two other alternative splicing variants,TLR4B and TLR4C,were obtained.Compared to the counterpart from domestic pig (GenBank No.AJ628065),there were five SNPs,c.510T＞C,c.960A＞G,c.962A＞G,c.1605T＞G and c.1824A＞G,in the coding sequence of wild boar TLR4A gene.TLR4 gene was expressed in all the tissues from wild boar studied with the most abundance in spleen tissue,and mRNA level was significantly lower in spleen from wild boar than that from Min pig.The allele distribution was significantly different at polymorphic loci c.962G＞A and c.1027C＞A (p＜0.01) between wild boar and Min pig.The results would contribute to understand the innate immune system in wild boar.     

Domestication of Pulses in the Old World: Legumes were companions of wheat and barley when agriculture began in the Near East

This article reviews the available information on the place of origin and time of domestication of the cultivated pea (Pisum sativum), lentil (Lens culinaris), broad bean (Vicia faba), bitter vetch (V. ervilia), and chickpea (Cicer arietinum). On the basis of (i) an examination and evaluation of archeological remains and (ii) an identification of the wild progenitors and delimitation of their geographic distribution, it was concluded that pea and lentil should be regarded as founder crops of Old World Neolithic agriculture. Most probably they were domesticated, in the Near East, simultaneously with wheats and barley (certainly not later than the sixth millennium B.C.). Bitter vetch shows a similar mode of origin. The evidence on the broad bean and the chickpea is much more fragmentary and the wild progenitors of these legumes are yet not satisfactorily identified. But also these two pulses emerge as important food elements in Bronze Age cultures of the Near East and Europe.     

How fast was wild wheat domesticated?

Prehistoric cultivation of wild wheat in the Fertile Crescent led to the selection of mutants with indehiscent (nonshattering) ears, which evolved into modern domestic wheat. Previous estimates suggested that this transformation was rapid, but our analyses of archaeological plant remains demonstrate that indehiscent domesticates were slow to appear, emerging approximately 9500 years before the present, and that dehiscent (shattering) forms were still common in cultivated fields approximately 7500 years before the present. Slow domestication implies that after cultivation began, wild cereals may have remained unchanged for a long period, supporting claims that agriculture originated in the Near East approximately 10,500 years before the present.     

野猪和17个家猪群体SLA-DRB基因外显子2的多态性分析

采用PCR-RFLP方法对野猪和国内外17个家猪品种SLA-DRB基因第2外显子的多态性进行分析,进一步分析SLA-DRB基因与疾病抗性的关系.结果表明:经限制性内切酶Rsa Ⅰ酶切后,共检测到4个等位基因和10种基因型.在野猪中仅存在BB摹因型和B等位基因,而在家猪群体中出现了野猪群体中所没有的9种基因型和3个等位基因.五指山猪、临高猪、荣昌猪和藏猪的多态性较为丰富,且具有全部4个等位基因.A等位基因在大多数家猪群体中为优势等位基因,B等位基因在梅山猪、五指山猪、藏猪、荣昌猪中为优势等位基因;BB基因型仅在五指山猪、临高猪、藏猪、荣昌猪和太湖猪群体中分布,地方猪品种中梅山猪BB基因型和B等位基因的频率最高.野猪及17个家猪群体间SLA-DRB基因第2外显子遗传多态性可能是由生态环境差异及自然和人工选择所致,这些遗传差异性可能与抗病力有关.     

Earliest Radiocarbon Dates for Domesticated Animals: Europe is added to the Near East as another early center of domestication

Our dates show that cattle and pigs were first domesticated in Europe. Sheep, which were thought to have become extinct in Europe during the terminal Pleistocene, also appear first in Europe. However, there remains little doubt that sheep were first domesticated in the Near East or Turkey, since no wild sheep appear to have existed in Europe at the beginning of the Holocene. Dogs were domesticated in both the Near East and Europe at virtually the same time. In the Near East, Asiab, at around 8000 B.C., qualifies as the first center of goat domestication. It is also the earliest center of domestication for all animals we have dated here. Horses were first domesticated in the steppes of the Ukraine, perhaps even earlier than our dates indicate, since all of the samples found at Polling are virtually contemporaneous (Fig. 1). Undoubtedly, future research will alter the details of our overall impressions, especially after bones at earlier sites such as Nea Nikomedeia have been dated directly. But, on balance, there can be no doubt that southeastern Europe was as much an early center of domestication as the Near East was.     

野猪的遗传学研究与开发利用进展

野猪是重要的兽类资源之一,对于维持生物多样性具有重要意义。对野猪的遗传资源进行研究评估,既能起到保护遗传资源的作用,又能利用它们来改良家猪形成新的猪种。文章主要从野猪的生物学特性、与家猪的起源进化关系及开发利用前景等方面对野猪的研究进行综述,以期为野猪资源的进一步研究和种质资源的保护与开发利用提供参考。     

Fauna of Catal Hüyük: evidence for early cattle domestication in Anatolia

Analysis of the remains of cattle from Catal Hüyük indicates that cattle were domesticated in Anatolia by 5800 B.C., and strongly suggests that they were probably domestic at least 500 years earlier. This is the earliest known evidence for the domestication of cattle in the Near East.     

Beginnings of fruit growing in the old world

The article reviews the available information on the start of fruit tree cultivation in the Old World. On the basis of (i) evaluation of the available archeological remains and (ii) examination of the wild relatives of the cultivated crops, it was concluded that olive, grape, date, and fig were the first important horticultural additions to the Mediterranean grain agriculture. They were most likely domesticated in the Near East in protohistoric time (fourth and third millennia B.C.) and they emerge as important food elements in the early Bronze Age. Domestication of all four fruit trees was based on a shift from sexual reproduction (in the wild) to vegetative propagation of clones (under domestication). Olive, grape, date, and fig can be vegetatively propagated by simple techniques (cuttings, basal knobs, suckers) and were thus preadapted for domestication early in the development of agriculture. The shift to clonal propagation placed serious limitations on selection and on fruit set under cultivation. We have examined the consequences of this shift in terms of the genetic makeup of the cultivars and traced the various countermeasures that evolved to ensure fruit set. Finally, it was pointed out that in each of these classic fruit trees we are confronted with a variable complex of genuinely wild types, secondary weedy derivatives and feral plants, and groups of the domesticated clones, which are all interfertile and interconnected by occasional hybridization. It was concluded that introgression from the diversified wild gene pool facilitated the rapid buildup of variation in the domesticated crops.     

猪MB基因外显子3的多态性分析

以MB基因作为影响猪肉肉色的候选基因,利用PCRS-SSCP技术,以野猪、野家杂种猪、民猪、大白猪、长白猪5个猪种为研究对象.根据GenBank上猪的MB序列设计了3对引物,对此基因的3个外显子进行SNPs检测.基因型检测结果表明:MB基因在第1、第2外显子上没有发现多态,在第3外显子上检测到了多态.在第3外显子上的第437 bp处存在一个T→C的碱基突变,该突变未导致氨基酸的改变,属沉默突变.经计算各基因型频率、基因频率和试验统计表明:随野猪、野家杂种猪、民猪、长白猪、大白猪肉色的变浅,等位基因N的基因频率也呈下降趋势.     

Cloning and Sequence Analysis on 3' Coding Region of Wild Boar and Cross Bred Pig Myostatin Gene

Myostatin, with a highly conservative gene among breeds is a negative regulator of muscle. The 3' coding regions of wild boar and crossbred pig myostatin were cloned by RT-PCR and sequenced respectively. The homology of the nucleotide sequence between wild boar and crossbred pig was 100% and there was no difference in this region compared with pig myostatin gene of Genbank. This indicated that there was not change of gene sequence in this region during the evolution processes.     

长白山野猪与吉林本地黑猪杂交后代屠宰性能的初步研究

对长白山野猪与吉林本地黑猪杂交后代的屠宰性能进行研究。结果表明,长白山野猪与吉林本地黑猪杂交后代屠宰率平均为74%,瘦肉率平均为55%,平均背膘厚2.30 cm。体质量和体长呈显著正相关(P0.05),体质量和体斜长呈极显著正相关(P0.01),体质量和瘦肉率呈极显著负相关(P0.01);屠宰率和各性能之间无显著相关性。试验结果显示,长白山野猪与吉林本地黑猪杂交后代有较高的瘦肉率和屠宰率等优势,屠宰性能较好。     

我国及周边国家地方猪群体的淀粉酶多态性

应用水平板淀粉凝胶电泳技术对八眉猪 (2 2 )、安康猪 (30 )、林芝藏猪 (42 )、合作猪 (5 5 )、成华猪(40 )和迪庆藏猪 (5 2 )的血液淀粉酶多态性进行了分析。结果表明 ,在 6个地方猪群体中共发现了 6个等位基因 ,即Am A,Am B,Am C,Am X,Am Y和 Am C′,其中 Am A 和 Am C的频率表现出明显的地域差异 ,中国地方猪具有亚洲猪的典型特点。可以认为南亚地方猪群体在起源上大多属于条纹野猪 ,而东亚地方猪群体则大多起源于北方野猪。 Am座位是研究地方猪群体遗传结构最有价值的两个血液蛋白座位 (Am和 Tf)之一。     

西双版纳野猪微卫星多态性研究*

 采用联合国粮农组织（FAO）和国际动物遗传学会（ISAG）联合推荐的27对微卫星DNA引物,对云南西双版纳野猪78个个体的遗传多样性进行了分析和研究,旨在为野猪遗传资源的合理利用及保护提供科学依据。结果表明：（1）78个个体在27个微卫星座位上共检出213个等位基因,各座位上等位基因数的范围在4～13之间,平均每个位点检测到789个等位基因,表明在3个野猪群体中多态性较丰富。（2）计算了等位基因频率,并以其为基础获得了野猪群体的平均杂合度、多态信息含量和有效等位基因数,分别为H均值0.81,PIC均值0.79;有效等位基因数共155.77个,有效等位基因数在2.65～10.10之间,平均数为5.77个,等位基因频率在0.0128～0.4808之间,其中位点SW72的102/等位基因频率最高,表明群体内的遗传变异较丰富。（3）计算了Nei氏标准遗传距离,结果表明景洪野猪与勐海野猪遗传距离最近,和勐腊野猪的遗传距离较远,种间内的遗传变异丰富,表明西双版纳野猪群体在核基因水平具有丰富的遗传多样性。     

黑龙江凤凰山国家级自然保护区野猪冬季容纳量及最适种群密度

近年黑龙江省凤凰山国家级自然保护区野猪数量不断增长,人猪冲突加剧,保护区资源保护管理工作面临较大管理压力.为确定野猪种群的实际数量,同时评估该保护区的野猪的容纳量水平,以便为保护区管理局针对野猪的管理提供相关指导意见.2009-2010年冬季,在保护区采用样带调查、雪地足迹链跟踪和观察食痕的方法,并结合已有野猪生态研究确定野猪食性.野猪主要食物种类包括:木贼(Equisetum hiemale)、红松(Pinus koraiensis)果实松籽、胡桃楸(Juglans mandshurica)果实核桃、蒙古栎(Quecusmongolica)果实橡子、稠李(Padus racemosa)、榛子(Corylus heterophlla)、苔草(Carex spp.)、辽东葱木(Aralia elata).研究期间共布设长3-5km、单侧宽度50m、总长134 km的样带30条.调查中,每隔200 m布设10 m×10 m的大样方,并在每个大样方中央及四角布设1 m×1 m的小样方,共布设大样方350个,小样方1 750个.通过样方调查,统计野猪栖息生境当年可食植物枝条及其食物种类,然后计算其食物的总供给量,再结合食物营养成分,通过粗蛋白、粗纤维、粗脂肪的能量转换,按照每克粗蛋白和粗纤维的能量转换系数为16.74kJ、每克粗脂肪的能量转换系数为37.66 kJ,确定野外生境食物总能量供给.结合野猪冬季日营养需求,以能量为基础估算保护区野猪的营养容纳量.在种群密度调查过程中,通过足迹链判断个体方法为:单一清晰足迹链确定为一个体所留,30m内多条足迹穿越同一样带被认为是一个野猪群所留,调查中根据个体分开时的足迹链数确定野猪个体数,同时将粪便、卧迹、啃食痕迹作为个体判断的辅助信息.研究结果表明:凤凰山保护区内能够提供的总能量为7.375 ×107MJ,冬季平均每头野猪生存所需能量为(14 677.698±409.92) MJ,野猪营养容纳量为(1 006±28)头,种群密度为(3.79±0.11)头/km2.此外,调查中发现30余个野猪套及2头野猪被猎杀现场,反应出当地的人猪冲突较为严重.结合调查中发现的野猪套数量及野猪被猎杀概率,对野猪种群数量引入20％的死亡风险系数.最终确定凤凰山野猪种群的最适数量在(603±17)头左右,最适密度为(2.27±0.06)头/km2.通过样带法调查得出凤凰山自然保护区实际野猪种群数量为(596±155)头,密度(2.24±0.58)头/km2,已趋近营养容纳量.因此,野猪并未过量,不能采取狩猎等降低种群数量的措施,同时保护区也应对野猪种群进行持续监控,防止野猪种群过度繁殖以至成灾.     

Single, rapid coastal settlement of Asia revealed by analysis of complete mitochondrial genomes

A recent dispersal of modern humans out of Africa is now widely accepted, but the routes taken across Eurasia are still disputed. We show that mitochondrial DNA variation in isolated "relict" populations in southeast Asia supports the view that there was only a single dispersal from Africa, most likely via a southern coastal route, through India and onward into southeast Asia and Australasia. There was an early offshoot, leading ultimately to the settlement of the Near East and Europe, but the main dispersal from India to Australia approximately 65,000 years ago was rapid, most likely taking only a few thousand years.     

Genetics Research and Advance on Development and Utilization of Wild Boars

Wild boar is one of the most important beast resources. It plays an important role in the maintenance of biological diversity. The genetic resources of wild boar can not only protect the genetic resources, but also improve the formation of new breeds in pigs. This paper summarized the advance on the main biological characteristics of wild boars, evolutionary origin between wild boars and domesticated pigs, and development and utilization of wild boars aimed to provide further insight into wild boar＇s genetic research and its resource protection.     

Polymorphism of FSHβ Subunit Gene in Six Pig Breeds

The follicle stimulating hormone beta-subunit (FSHβ) gene plays an important role in piglets. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) in conjunction with traditional selection methods is most effective for improving the piglets breeding traits. To find the new SNPs, the polymorphism of it in six pig breeds (Min, Landrace, Yorkshine, Duroc, wild boar, and wild boar × Landrace) was analyzed by using PCR-SSCP and was further compared with each other. Polymorphism was found and the sequencing results showed that there was one silent mutation on exon2 (C48T) and two mutations on exon3 (T422C and A514G). Genotype distribution of FSHβ in Min and wild boar on exon3 was in accordance with Hardy-Weinberg Law.