Capra

Abstract: The evolutionary basis of domestication has been a longstanding question and its genetic architecture is becoming more tractable as more domestic species become genome-enabled. Before becoming established worldwide, sheep and goats were domesticated in the fertile crescent 10,500 years before present (YBP) where their wild relatives remain. Here we sequence the genomes of wild Asiatic mouflon and Bezoar ibex in the sheep and goat domestication center and compare their genomes with that of domestics from local, traditional, and improved breeds. Among the genomic regions carrying selective sweeps differentiating domestic breeds from wild populations, which are associated among others to genes involved in nervous system, immunity and productivity traits, 20 are common to Capra and Ovis. The patterns of selection vary between species, suggesting that while common targets of selection related to domestication and improvement exist, different solutions have arisen to achieve similar phenotypic end-points within these closely related livestock species.

Abstract: Two multiplex systems, each containing 11 microsatellite loci, were developed for semiautomated parentage testing in goats. Eight of the loci originate from goats, nine from cattle and five from sheep. Eighteen of the loci have been mapped to 16 different autosomes (in goats and cattle). Parentage exclusion probabilities were computed from allele frequencies in similar to 30 unrelated individuals from each of four economically important breeds: Mongolian Native Cashmere, Turkish Angora, Swiss Saanen, and Spanish Murciana-Grenadina. In cases where genotypes are known for one parent and an offspring, the 22 markers will exclude an (erroneously) alleged parent with a probability of > 0.999999 in the cashmere breed, > 0.99999 in Angora and Murciana-Grenadina, and > 0.9999 in Saanen. The multiplexes provide very high power for individual identification as the probability of finding two identical genotypes for the 22 loci is < 1 in 1.10(15) in each of the four breeds. The multiplexes will also be useful for studies of population structure, history, and diversity in goats and also in wild Capra species that represent important resources for genetic improvement of domestic breeds.