ORCID Profile
0000-0001-8579-1304
Current Organisation
Stockholm Univerrsity
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Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 07-06-2005
Abstract: The geographic situation of the Iberian Peninsula makes it a natural link between Europe and North Africa. However, it is a matter of debate to what extent African influences via the Straits Gibraltar have affected Iberia's prehistoric development. Because early African pastoralist communities were dedicated to cattle breeding, a possible means to detect prehistoric African–Iberian contacts might be to analyze the origin of cattle breeds on the Iberian Peninsula. Some contemporary Iberian cattle breeds show a mtDNA haplotype, T1, that is characteristic to African breeds, generally explained as being the result of the Muslim expansion of the 8th century A.D., and of modern imports. To test a possible earlier African influence, we analyzed mtDNA of Bronze Age cattle from the Portalón cave at the Atapuerca site in northern Spain. Although the majority of s les showed the haplotype T3 that dominates among European breeds of today, the T1 haplotype was found in one specimen radiocarbon dated 1800 calibrated years B.C. Accepting T1 as being of African origin, this result indicates prehistoric African–Iberian contacts and lends support to archaeological finds linking early African and Iberian cultures. We also found a wild ox haplotype in the Iberian Bronze Age s le, reflecting local hybridization or backcrossing or that aurochs were hunted by these farming cultures.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-11-2007
DOI: 10.1111/J.1365-2052.2007.01663.X
Abstract: Initially, domesticated African cattle were of taurine type. Today, we find both African Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle, as well as their crossbreeds, on the continent of Africa and they all share the same set of African taurine mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. In this study, we report genetic variation as substitutions and insertions/deletions (indels) on both the X and Y chromosomes, and use the variation to assess hybridization between taurine and indicine cattle. Six African cattle breeds (four Sanga breeds, including Raya Azebu, Danakil, Caprivi, Nguni and two Zebu breeds, including Kilimanjaro Zebu and South Kavirondo Zebu) were screened for six new X-chromosomal markers, specifically three single nucleotide polymorphisms and three indels in the DDX3X (previously DBX) and ZFX genes, and five previously identified Y-chromosomal markers in the DDX3Y (previously DBY) and ZFY genes. In total, 90 (57 bulls and 33 cows) s les from the African breeds were analysed. We identify five diagnostic haplotypes of indicine and taurine origins on both the X and Y chromosomes. For each breed, the level of indicine introgression varies in addition to pure taurine, indicine and hybrid X-chromosome in iduals, recombinant X-chromosome variants were also detected. These markers are useful molecular tools for assessing the level of indicine admixture in African cattle breeds.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 03-09-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.09.03.281261
Abstract: The Middle East plays a central role in human history harbouring a vast ersity of ethnic, cultural and religious groups. However, much remains to be understood about past and present genomic ersity in this region. Here, we present for the first time, a multidisciplinary bioarchaeological analysis of two in iduals dated to late 7th and early 8th centuries from Tell Qarassa, an open-air site in modern-day Syria. Radiocarbon dates, religious and cultural burial evidence indicate that this site represents one of the earliest Islamic Arab burials in the Levant during the Late Antiquity period. Interestingly, we found genomic similarity to a genotyped group of modern-day Bedouins and Saudi rather than to most neighbouring Levantine groups. This is highlighted through substantial Neolithic Levant ancestry in our s les, inviting an alternative scenario of long-term continuity in this region. This raises questions about the influence of ancient populations and historical migrations to genetic structure in the Middle East. As our study represents the first genomic analysis of an early Islamic burial in the Levant, we discuss our findings and possible historic scenarios in light of forces such as genetic drift and their possible interaction with religious and cultural processes.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 11-07-2006
Abstract: In this study, we have used a technique designed to target short fragments containing informative mitochondrial substitutions to extend the temporal limits of DNA recovery and study the molecular phylogeny of Ursus deningeri . We present a cladistic analysis using DNA recovered from 400 kyr old U. deningeri remains, which demonstrates U. deningeri 's relation to Ursus spelaeus . This study extends the limits of recovery from skeletal remains by almost 300 kyr. Plant material from permafrost environments has yielded DNA of this age in earlier studies, and our data suggest that DNA in teeth from cave environments may be equally well preserved.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 12-01-2009
Abstract: We report the first two complete mitochondrial genome sequences of the thylacine ( Thylacinus cynocephalus ), or so-called Tasmanian tiger, extinct since 1936. The thylacine's phylogenetic position within australidelphian marsupials has long been debated, and here we provide strong support for the thylacine's basal position in Dasyuromorphia, aided by mitochondrial genome sequence that we generated from the extant numbat ( Myrmecobius fasciatus ). Surprisingly, both of our thylacine sequences differ by 11%–15% from putative thylacine mitochondrial genes in GenBank, with one of our s les originating from a direct offspring of the previously sequenced in idual. Our data s le each mitochondrial nucleotide an average of 50 times, thereby providing the first high-fidelity reference sequence for thylacine population genetics. Our two sequences differ in only five nucleotides out of 15,452, hinting at a very low genetic ersity shortly before extinction. Despite the s les’ heavy contamination with bacterial and human DNA and their temperate storage history, we estimate that as much as one-third of the total DNA in each s le is from the thylacine. The microbial content of the two thylacine s les was subjected to metagenomic analysis, and showed striking differences between a wild-captured in idual and a born-in-captivity one. This study therefore adds to the growing evidence that extensive sequencing of museum collections is both feasible and desirable, and can yield complete genomes.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 20-09-2005
Abstract: Domesticated cattle were one of the cornerstones of European Neolithisation and are thought to have been introduced to Europe from areas of aurochs domestication in the Near East. This is consistent with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data, where a clear separation exists between modern European cattle and ancient specimens of British aurochsen. However, we show that Y chromosome haplotypes of north European cattle breeds are more similar to haplotypes from ancient specimens of European aurochsen, than to contemporary cattle breeds from southern Europe and the Near East. There is a sharp north–south gradient across Europe among modern cattle breeds in the frequencies of two distinct Y chromosome haplotypes the northern haplotype is found in 20 out of 21 European aurochsen or early domestic cattle dated 9500–1000 BC. This indicates that local hybridization with male aurochsen has left a paternal imprint on the genetic composition of modern central and north European breeds. Surreptitious mating between aurochs bulls and domestic cows may have been hard to avoid, or may have occurred intentionally to improve the breeding stock. Rather than originating from a few geographical areas only, as indicated by mtDNA, our data suggest that the origin of domestic cattle may be far more complex than previously thought.
No related grants have been discovered for Anders Gotherstrom.