Insight into the introduction of domestic cattle and the process of Neolithization to the Spanish region Galicia by genetic evidence

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 28;16(4):e0249537. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249537. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Domestic cattle were brought to Spain by early settlers and agricultural societies. Due to missing Neolithic sites in the Spanish region of Galicia, very little is known about this process in this region. We sampled 18 cattle subfossils from different ages and different mountain caves in Galicia, of which 11 were subject to sequencing of the mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic analysis, to provide insight into the introduction of cattle to this region. We detected high similarity between samples from different time periods and were able to compare the time frame of the first domesticated cattle in Galicia to data from the connecting region of Cantabria to show a plausible connection between the Neolithization of these two regions. Our data shows a close relationship of the early domesticated cattle of Galicia and modern cow breeds and gives a general insight into cattle phylogeny. We conclude that settlers migrated to this region of Spain from Europe and introduced common European breeds to Galicia.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Domestic / classification*
  • Animals, Domestic / genetics*
  • Breeding
  • Cattle
  • Domestication
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Female
  • Fossils / history*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • History, Ancient
  • Introduced Species / history*
  • Male
  • Mitochondria / genetics*
  • Phylogeny
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods*
  • Spain

Grants and funding

Grant CGL2014–57209-P awarded to AGD Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.7eeac5cd345b4f34f09dfd1001432ea0/?vgnextoid=f1e81f4368aef110VgnVCM1000001034e20aRCRD) and Grant CGL2014–57209-P awarded to AGD Xunta de Galicia (https://www.edu.xunta.gal/portal/es) The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.