title: Balkan brachicerous cattle - the first domesticated cattle in Europe.
abstract: The present study aimed to compare mitochondrial diversity among Balkan Neolithic/Chalcolithic cattle and present day Shorthorn Rhodopean cattle (Busha) to throw a new insight into European cattle domestication. The results showed that both ancient- and present-day samples belonged to the macrohaplogroup T. From the 28 sequences (8 ancient and 20 modern), the T1 and T2 haplogroup represent about 3.6% (1/28; 1/28). The T3 haplogroup was with the highest frequency - 57% (16/28). Based on the SNPs on 16057A and 16133C, the new T6 haplogroup was proposed. This haplogroup represents 75% from the ancient and 20% from the present day Bulgarian brachicerous cattle population. The survey in GenBank data base did not find a similar motif, except for the recent Serbian Busha cattle. Overall, these results showed that: (i) The newly named T6 haplogroup is Balkan specific; (ii) The T6 haplogroup survives in present day Bulgarian rhodopean cattle; (iii) The Balkan brachicerous cattle is the oldest European cattle breed.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Animal Diversity and Resources , Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Bulgarian Academy of Sciences , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hristov
authors.affiliation: a Department of Animal Diversity and Resources , Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Bulgarian Academy of Sciences , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sirakova
authors.affiliation: a Department of Animal Diversity and Resources , Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Bulgarian Academy of Sciences , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mitkov
authors.affiliation: b Palaeontology and Mineralogy Department , National Museum of Natural History Bulgarian Academy of Sciences , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Nikolai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Spassov
authors.affiliation: a Department of Animal Diversity and Resources , Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Bulgarian Academy of Sciences , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Georgi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Radoslavov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D063368:Balkan Peninsula; D001947:Breeding; D002031:Bulgaria; D002417:Cattle; D000071278:Domestication; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D049690:History, Ancient; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
keywords: Shorthorn Rhodopean cattle; domestication; mitochondrial DNA