A microsatellite survey of cattle from a centre of origin: the Near East

Eight humpless cattle breeds from the Near East, three from Europe, one fro m West Africa and two zebu breeds from India were screened with 20 microsat ellite loci. Breeds from the Near East revealed considerable levels of intr ogression from zebu cattle, which was apparent most in populations from the East and which declined in populations further West. This nonrandom patter n is suggestive of the introduction of zebu cattle from the East. Notwithst anding the overlay of zebu alleles, it was possible to demonstrate that Nea r Eastern cattle exhibited significantly higher levels of allelic diversity than breeds from other regions, which is consistent with the view that thi s region represents a primary domestication centre for Bas taurus cattle. T he hypothesis that B. taurus and B. indicus cattle have separate domestic o rigins is also supported by the survey, a large genetic divergence being ap parent between the nonhybrid taurine and zebu groups.