title: The First Mitogenome of the Cyprus Mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion): New Insights into the Phylogeny of the Genus Ovis.
abstract: Sheep are thought to have been one of the first livestock to be domesticated in the Near East, thus playing an important role in human history. The current whole mitochondrial genome phylogeny for the genus Ovis is based on: the five main domestic haplogroups occurring among sheep (O. aries), along with molecular data from two wild European mouflons, three urials, and one argali. With the aim to shed some further light on the phylogenetic relationship within this genus, the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Cypriot mouflon (O. gmelini ophion) is here reported. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using a dataset of whole Ovis mitogenomes as well as D-loop sequences. The concatenated sequence of 28 mitochondrial genes of one Cypriot mouflon, and the D-loop sequence of three Cypriot mouflons were compared to sequences obtained from samples representatives of the five domestic sheep haplogroups along with samples of the extant wild and feral sheep. The sample included also individuals from the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica hosting remnants of the first wave of domestication that likely went then back to feral life. The divergence time between branches in the phylogenetic tree has been calculated using seven different calibration points by means of Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood inferences. Results suggest that urial (O. vignei) and argali (O. ammon) diverged from domestic sheep about 0.89 and 1.11 million years ago (MYA), respectively; and dates the earliest radiation of domestic sheep common ancestor at around 0.3 MYA. Additionally, our data suggest that the rise of the modern sheep haplogroups happened in the span of time between six and 32 thousand years ago (KYA). A close phylogenetic relationship between the Cypriot and the Anatolian mouflon carrying the X haplotype was detected. The genetic distance between this group and the other ovine haplogroups supports the hypothesis that it may be a new haplogroup never described before. Furthermore, the updated phylogenetic tree presented in this study determines a finer classification of ovine species and may help to classify more accurately new mitogenomes within the established haplogroups so far identified.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Daria
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sanna
authors.affiliation: Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barbato
authors.affiliation: Ministry of the Interior, Nicosia, Cyprus.
authors.forename: Eleftherios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hadjisterkotis
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cossu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.|Center of Excellence for Biotechnology Development and Research on Biodiversity, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Decandia
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.|Center of Excellence for Biotechnology Development and Research on Biodiversity, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trova
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.|Center of Excellence for Biotechnology Development and Research on Biodiversity, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pirastru
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.|Center of Excellence for Biotechnology Development and Research on Biodiversity, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni Giuseppe
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Leoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.|Center of Excellence for Biotechnology Development and Research on Biodiversity, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naitana
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Francalacci
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.|Center of Excellence for Biotechnology Development and Research on Biodiversity, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Masala
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.|Center of Excellence for Biotechnology Development and Research on Biodiversity, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Manca
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.|Center of Excellence for Biotechnology Development and Research on Biodiversity, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mereu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D034561:Sheep, Domestic / Q000235:genetics*