title: Genomic data as the "hitchhiker's guide" to cattle adaptation: tracking the milestones of past selection in the bovine genome.
abstract: The bovine species have witnessed and played a major role in the drastic socio-economical changes that shaped our culture over the last 10,000 years. During this journey, cattle "hitchhiked" on human development and colonized the world, facing strong selective pressures such as dramatic environmental changes and disease challenge. Consequently, hundreds of specialized cattle breeds emerged and spread around the globe, making up a rich spectrum of genomic resources. Their DNA still carry the scars left from adapting to this wide range of conditions, and we are now empowered with data and analytical tools to track the milestones of past selection in their genomes. In this review paper, we provide a summary of the reconstructed demographic events that shaped cattle diversity, offer a critical synthesis of popular methodologies applied to the search for signatures of selection (SS) in genomic data, and give examples of recent SS studies in cattle. Then, we outline the potential and challenges of the application of SS analysis in cattle, and discuss the future directions in this field.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Reprodução Animal, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Yuri T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Utsunomiya
authors.affiliation: Division of Livestock Sciences, Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pérez O'Brien
authors.affiliation: Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture Beltsville, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Tad S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Sonstegard
authors.affiliation: Division of Livestock Sciences, Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sölkner
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Reprodução Animal, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil ; Laboratório de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular Animal, Departamento de Apoio, Saúde e Produção Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária de Araçatuba, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Araçatuba, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: José F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Garcia
keywords: Bos indicus; Bos taurus; adaptation; positive selection; single nucleotide polymorphism