title: Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary.
abstract: Dromedaries have been fundamental to the development of human societies in arid landscapes and for long-distance trade across hostile hot terrains for 3,000 y. Today they continue to be an important livestock resource in marginal agro-ecological zones. However, the history of dromedary domestication and the influence of ancient trading networks on their genetic structure have remained elusive. We combined ancient DNA sequences of wild and early-domesticated dromedary samples from arid regions with nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial genotype information from 1,083 extant animals collected across the species' range. We observe little phylogeographic signal in the modern population, indicative of extensive gene flow and virtually affecting all regions except East Africa, where dromedary populations have remained relatively isolated. In agreement with archaeological findings, we identify wild dromedaries from the southeast Arabian Peninsula among the founders of the domestic dromedary gene pool. Approximate Bayesian computations further support the "restocking from the wild" hypothesis, with an initial domestication followed by introgression from individuals from wild, now-extinct populations. Compared with other livestock, which show a long history of gene flow with their wild ancestors, we find a high initial diversity relative to the native distribution of the wild ancestor on the Arabian Peninsula and to the brief coexistence of early-domesticated and wild individuals. This study also demonstrates the potential to retrieve ancient DNA sequences from osseous remains excavated in hot and dry desert environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Husbandry, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources, King Faisal University, 400 Al-Hasa, Saudi Arabia; Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD Nottingham, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Faisal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Almathen
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1160 Vienna, Austria; Institute of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria; Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Charruau
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1160 Vienna, Austria; Institute of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria;
authors.forename: Elmira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mohandesan
authors.affiliation: Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD Nottingham, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Joram M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Mwacharo
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, Wales, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Orozco-terWengel
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, Wales, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pitt
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Bayero University, PMB 3011, Kano State, Nigeria;
authors.forename: Abdussamad M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Abdussamad
authors.affiliation: Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, Abteilung Archäozoologie, Universität Tübingen, 7207 Tuebingen, Germany;
authors.forename: Margarethe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uerpmann
authors.affiliation: Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, Abteilung Archäozoologie, Universität Tübingen, 7207 Tuebingen, Germany;
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Uerpmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Paleontology, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 1000 Brussels, Belgium;
authors.forename: Bea
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: De Cupere
authors.affiliation: Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010;
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Magee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kuwait University, Safat 13060, Kuwait;
authors.forename: Majed A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Alnaqeeb
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum-North 13314, Sudan;
authors.forename: Bashir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Salim
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Uthal 90150, Pakistan;
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raziq
authors.affiliation: Animal Biosciences, International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa 1000, Ethiopia;
authors.forename: Tadelle
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dessie
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, University of Kordofan, Khartoum 11111, Sudan;
authors.forename: Omer M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Abdelhadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Animal Science Research Institute of Iran, 3146618361 Karaj, Iran;
authors.forename: Mohammad H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Banabazi
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Studies, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources, King Faisal University, 1757 Al-Hasa, Saudi Arabia;
authors.forename: Marzook
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Eknah
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria;
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Walzer
authors.affiliation: Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement-Environnements et Sociétés, UMR 112, Campus International de Baillarguet, TAC/112A, 34398 Montpellier, France;
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Faye
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Evolutionary and Adaptive Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany;
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hofreiter
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), 80539 Munich, Germany; Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns, Bavarian State Collection of Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, 80333 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD Nottingham, United Kingdom; pamela.burger@vetmeduni.ac.at olivier.hanotte@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hanotte
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1160 Vienna, Austria; pamela.burger@vetmeduni.ac.at olivier.hanotte@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Pamela A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6941-0257
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Burger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000235:genetics; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002162:Camelus; D004247:DNA; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D000071278:Domestication; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004247:DNA
keywords: Camelus dromedarius; anthropogenic admixture; demographic history; paleogenetics; wild dromedary