title: Insight into the genetic composition of South African Sanga cattle using SNP data from cattle breeds worldwide.
abstract: Understanding the history of cattle breeds is important because it provides the basis for developing appropriate selection and breed improvement programs. In this study, patterns of ancestry and admixture in Afrikaner, Nguni, Drakensberger and Bonsmara cattle of South Africa were investigated. We used 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism genotypes that were previously generated for the Afrikaner (n = 36), Nguni (n = 50), Drakensberger (n = 47) and Bonsmara (n = 44) breeds, and for 394 reference animals representing European taurine, African taurine, African zebu and Bos indicus.
  
  
  
  Our findings support previous conclusions that Sanga cattle breeds are composites between African taurine and Bos indicus. Among these breeds, the Afrikaner breed has significantly diverged from its ancestral forebears, probably due to genetic drift and selection to meet breeding objectives of the breed society that enable registration. The Nguni, Drakensberger and Bonsmara breeds are admixed, perhaps unintentionally in the case of Nguni and Drakensberger, but certainly by design in the case of Bonsmara, which was developed through crossbreeding between the Afrikaner, Hereford and Shorthorn breeds.
  
  
  
  We established patterns of admixture and ancestry for South African Sanga cattle breeds, which provide a basis for developing appropriate strategies for their genetic improvement.
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production Institute, Private Bag X 2, Irene, 0062, South Africa. somakina@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sithembile O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Makina
authors.affiliation: Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsey K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Whitacre
authors.affiliation: Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
authors.forename: Jared E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Decker
authors.affiliation: Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
authors.forename: Jeremy F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production Institute, Private Bag X 2, Irene, 0062, South Africa.|Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, University of Free State, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa.|Delta G, Miles City, MT, 59301, USA.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: MacNeil
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production Institute, Private Bag X 2, Irene, 0062, South Africa.|Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, University of Free State, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa.
authors.forename: Michiel M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Scholtz
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal and Wildlife Sciences, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X 20, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa.
authors.forename: Este
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van Marle-Köster
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Council-Biotechnology Platform, Private Bag X 5, Onderstepoort, 0110, South Africa.
authors.forename: Farai C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Muchadeyi
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production Institute, Private Bag X 2, Irene, 0062, South Africa.
authors.forename: Mahlako L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Makgahlela
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production Institute, Private Bag X 2, Irene, 0062, South Africa.|Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, University of Free State, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa.
authors.forename: Azwihangwisi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maiwashe
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002417:Cattle; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005828:Genetics, Population; D016678:Genome; D005838:Genotype; D040582:Inheritance Patterns; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D013019:South Africa