title: Coat color variation at the beginning of horse domestication.
abstract: The transformation of wild animals into domestic ones available for human nutrition was a key prerequisite for modern human societies. However, no other domestic species has had such a substantial impact on the warfare, transportation, and communication capabilities of human societies as the horse. Here, we show that the analysis of ancient DNA targeting nuclear genes responsible for coat coloration allows us to shed light on the timing and place of horse domestication. We conclude that it is unlikely that horse domestication substantially predates the occurrence of coat color variation, which was found to begin around the third millennium before the common era.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 10252 Berlin, Germany. ludwig@izw-berlin.de
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ludwig
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pruvost
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reissmann
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Benecke
authors.forename: Gudrun A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Brockmann
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Castaños
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cieslak
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lippold
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Llorente
authors.forename: Anna-Sapfo
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Malaspinas
authors.forename: Montgomery
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Slatkin
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hofreiter
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000266:history*; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001947:Breeding; D004247:DNA; D005060:Europe; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006200:Hair Color / Q000235:genetics*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006736:Horses / Q000235:genetics*; D012800:Siberia
chemical_list: D004247:DNA