Early medieval cattle remains from a Scandinavian settlement in Dublin: genetic analysis and comparison with extant breeds.
A panel of cattle bones excavated from the 1000-year-old Viking Fishamble Street site in Dublin was assessed for the presence of surviving mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Eleven of these bones gave amplifiable mtDNA and a portion of the hypervariable control region was determined for each specimen. A comparative analysis was performed with control region sequences from five extant Nordic and Irish cattle breeds. The medieval population displayed similar levels of mtDNA diversity to modern European breeds. However, a number of novel mtDNA haplotypes were also detected in these bone samples. In addition, the presence of a putative ancestral sequence at high frequency in the medieval population supports an early post-domestication expansion of cattle in Europe.
MacHugh
D E
DE
Department of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Troy
C S
CS
McCormick
F
F
Olsaker
I
I
Eythórsdóttir
E
E
Bradley
D G
DG
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005580:Fossils; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D007494:Ireland; D010163:Paleontology; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial