Dual origins of dairy cattle farming - evidence from a comprehensive survey of European Y-chromosomal variation

Dual Origins of Dairy Cattle Farming – Evidence from a Comprehensive Survey of European Y-Chromosomal Variation Ceiridwen J. Edwards 1,2 , Catarina Ginja 3,4 , Juha Kantanen 5 ,Lucı ´aPe ´rez-Pardal 6 , Anne Tresset 7 , Frauke Stock 1 , European Cattle Genetic Diversity Consortium " , Luis T. Gama 4 , M. Cecilia T. Penedo 3 , Daniel G. Bradley 1 , Johannes A. Lenstra 8 *, Isaa ¨c J. Nijman 8¤ 1Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 2Research Laboratory for Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 3Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America, 4Departamento de Gene ´tica, Melhoramento Animal e Reproduc¸a ˜o, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biolo ´gicos, Fonte Boa, Vale de Santare ´m, Portugal, 5Biotechnology and Food Research, MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Jokioinen, Finland, 6Area de Gene ´tica y Reproduccio ´n Animal, SERIDA, Gijo ´n, Spain, 7Arche ´ozoologie, Arche ´obotanique, Socie ´te ´s, Pratiques et Environnements, CNRS Muse ´um National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France, 8Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Abstract Background: Diversity patterns of livestock species are informative to the history of agriculture and indicate uniqueness of breeds as relevant for conservation. So far, most studies on cattle have focused on mitochondrial and autosomal DNA variation. Previous studies of Y-chromosomal variation, with limited breed panels, identified two Bos taurus (taurine) haplogroups (Y1 and Y2; both composed of several haplotypes) and one Bos indicus (indicine/zebu) haplogroup (Y3), as well as a strong phylogeographic structuring of paternal lineages. Methodology and Principal Findings: Haplogroup data were collected for 2087 animals from 138 breeds. For 111 breeds, these were resolved further by genotyping microsatellites INRA189 (10 alleles) and BM861 (2 alleles). European cattle carry exclusively taurine haplotypes, with the zebu Y-chromosomes having appreciable frequencies in Southwest Asian populations. Y1 is predominant in northern and north-western Europe, but is also observed in several Iberian breeds, as well as in Southwest Asia. A single Y1 haplotype is predominant in north-central Europe and a single Y2 haplotype in central Europe. In contrast, we found both Y1 and Y2 haplotypes in Britain, the Nordic region and Russia, with the highest Ychromosomal diversity seen in the Iberian Peninsula. Conclusions: We propose that the homogeneous Y1 and Y2 regions reflect founder effects associated with the development and expansion of two groups of dairy cattle, the pied or red breeds from the North Sea and Baltic coasts and the spotted, yellow or brown breeds from Switzerland, respectively. The present Y1-Y2 contrast in central Europe coincides with historic, linguistic, religious and cultural boundaries. Citation: Edwards CJ, Ginja C, Kantanen J, Pe ´rez-Pardal L, Tresset A, et al. (2011) Dual Origins of Dairy Cattle Farming – Evidence from a Comprehensive Survey of European Y-Chromosomal Variation. PLoS ONE 6(1): e15922. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015922 Editor: Toomas Kivisild, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Received October 12, 2010; Accepted November 29, 2010; Published January 6, 2011 Copyright: ß2011 Edwards et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: CJE was supported by the Enterprise Ireland Basic Research Grants Programme (project numbers SC/1999/409 and SC/2002/510). CG was supported by a grant from Fundac¸a ˜o Portuguesa para a Cie ˆncia e a Tecnologia (Ref. SFRH/BD/13502/2003). JK was supported by the Academy of Finland and the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (SUNARE-program and ‘Russia in Flux’ program). LP-P was supported by grant BES-2006-13545. Collection of several samples was supported by the Resgen project 98–118 (1999–2002) funded by the European Union. This work was also part-funded by The Wellcome Trust (grant no. 047485/Z/96/Z), and a Eurocores OMLL Programme Grant via CNRS, France. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: [email protected] ¤ Current address: Genome Biology and Bioinformatics Group, Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands "For the full list of authors of this consortium, please see the Acknowledgments section. Introduction The history of human civilisations has left its footprint in the patterns of genetic variation of livestock species across and within continents [1,2,3,4]. Molecular markers, such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal polymorphisms, have been particularly useful in investigating the wild species origin of cattle and the subsequent genetic events that shaped the present pattern of genetic diversity. With regards to cattle in Europe, evidence indicates that: (i) Balkan cattle act as reservoir of high genetic diversity [5]; (ii) there is a marked contrast between north and south Europe [6,7,8]; and (iii) central European breeds occupy a separate position relative to Mediterranean and northern European cattle [9]. Although the Fertile Crescent is considered the primary centre of taurine cattle domestication, evidence for independent domestication events in other locals is currently debated [10,11,12, 13,14,15]. Ancestral taurine mtDNA lineages have been identified, and confirmed differences seen between northern and southern PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 1 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922 European populations of wild cattle (aurochs): the B. primigenius haplogroup P was frequent in northern and central Europe [16], while distinct putative auroch matrilines (haplogroups Q and R) were found in modern southern European populations and it appears that these were sporadically introduced into domestic breeds [11,12]. MtDNA sequences also reveal that indicine cattle originated from a different wild aurochs population, Bos primigenius namadicus,in the Indus Valley approximately 8,000 years before present [17,18]. Differentiation of paternal lineages via analysis of Y-chromosomal variation adds significantly to what can be inferred from mtDNA and autosomal variation [19]. The absence of interchromosomal recombination outside the pseudoautosomal region (PAR) preserves original arrangements of mutational events, and thus male lineages can be traced both within and among populations. Genetic drift is relatively strong due to the effective population sizes of Y-chromosomes being, at most, 25% of the autosomal effective population size [20]. Effective population size is often reduced further by the relatively high variability of male reproductive success. As a result, the Y-chromosome is a sensitive indicator of recent demographic events, such as population bottlenecks, founder effects and population expansions. In several herd species, males are more mobile than females and compete for reproduction or, in the case of livestock, are selected on the basis of breeding objectives. So while mtDNA variants stay mostly within the herd, Y-chromosomal variants may reflect the origin of sires as influenced by introgression and upgrading. Indeed, in domestic cattle, a marked difference between the distributions of mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal components has been observed [16,21,22,23,24]. In an initial survey of European breeds, two haplogroups, Y1 and Y2, were found to be dominant in northern and southern Europe respectively [25]. Comparison of cattle Y-chromosome variation over time suggests that the frequency and distribution of these patrilines varied, which could be related with distinct breeding strategies [26]. In European aurochs, Y2 appears to be predominant [27], but so far it is unclear if there was significant introgression from wild bulls into domestic populations. In the study of human male lineages, the use of Y-specific microsatellites has allowed for refined analyses of the genetic diversity of paternal lineages that can be found within major haplogroups [28,29]. Similarly, in cattle, microsatellite analysis has identified several Y-haplotypes in Portuguese [30], northern and eastern European [31], western-continental, British and SubSaharan Africa [14] breeds, as well as in American Creole [22] breeds. Even though different sets of markers were used in these studies, and each only partially covered the diversity pattern of the paternal lineages, they have confirmed that Y-markers exhibit a strong phylogeographic structure in cattle. Here we report Y-haplotype data on 128 European, one African and nine Asian breeds, incorporating also data from the previous reports. This comprehensive study confirms a clear north-south contrast that is accentuated by a homogeneity of Y1 haplotypes in north-central Europe and of Y2 haplotypes in and around the Alpine region, both regions that are thought to be the origin of highly productive cattle breeds. This genetic boundary correlates with historic differences between northern and southern European cultures and we consider that this may have implications for the investigation of dairy QTL variation. Results Cattle haplogroups defined by Y-SNPs For 238 males from 30 breeds, Y-chromosomal fragments comprising the ZFY (1,219 bp and 1,003 bp), SRY (2,644 bp) and DBY (also known as DDX3Y; 406 bp) genes were sequenced [32]. These sequences contained five mutational differences when compared to the zebu Y3 sequences [30], and all European animals carried either the Y1 or Y2 taurine haplogroups. Interestingly, comparison of the Y3 sequence with an SRY sequence from an Indian Sahiwal zebu (GenBank accession number AY079145) [33] revealed three additional differences downstream of the openreading frame, indicating zebu-specific Y-chromosomal SNPs. In combination with a SNP in UYT19 [14,22,25,31], three cosegregating mutations differentiate the taurine Y1 and Y2 haplogroups (Table S1). A composite microsatellite in DBY [25], with one major allele in both Y1 and Y2 and only present in the Italian Maremmana, was not used for differentiation of haplotypes. Genotypes of individual SNPs in other animals were combined with Y1-Y2 SNP data and resulted in Y1 or Y2 assignments of 2087 animals from 138 breeds (Table S1). The resulting dataset included previously published genotypic information for 1099 individuals from 78 breeds [14,22,31]. The Y3 haplogroup was identified on the basis of microsatellite information as described in the next section. The map of Figure 1 shows the geographical distribution of Y-haplogroups. The three haplogroups described in cattle (Y1, Y2 and Y3) were detected in Southwest Asia, but only Y3 was present in the two Indian breeds analysed, which is in agreement with their zebu morphology. Y1 was predominant in northern Europe and in a number of Iberian breeds. In contrast, Y2 was dominant in most central, Mediterranean and Iberian breeds, but was also found in several British and Nordic breeds. Although only a single African breed was included in this study, both Y1 and Y2 haplogroups were present. Several of the breeds that do not confirm this northern Y1 – southern Y2 distribution pattern appear to have been subject to recent introgression from breeds with similar coat colour [34], but carrying the other Y-chromosomal haplogroup. Thus, Y2 was introduced in Dutch Belted (DUB) by crossbreeding with belted Galloway bulls. Danish Red bulls probably introduced Y1 into the Sicilian Modicana (MOD). The presence of Y1 in central dairy breeds, such as Simmental (SIM), Pezzata Rossa Italiana (PRI) and Hinderwald (HIW), is probably explained by crossbreeding with Red Holstein sires. Likewise, crossbreeding with Lowland Pied or English cattle probably accounts for the predominance of Y1 in Russian dairy cattle [35]. Y-chromosomes act as a single haplogroup and are, in general, homogeneous at the Ychromosome variation level. In most cases, the presence of Y1 and Y2 haplotypes in a given breed can be explained by its recent history [14]. Cattle haplotypes detected through SNPs and microsatellites The diversity within each haplogroup was further assessed by genotyping INRA189 [36] and BM861 [37] Y-specific microsatellite markers. The combination of these data with previously published Y-chromosomal haplotypes [14,22,31] yielded haplotypes for a total of 1472 animals from 111 breeds, a subset of the individuals for which SNP information was available. Haplotype composition and absolute frequencies, as well as unbiased estimates of haplotype diversities with the associated standard deviations (SD) are shown for each breed and geographic group in Table 1. We found a total of 19 composite Y-haplotypes. The relationship between current haplotype nomenclatures is summarised in Table S2. Locus INRA189 is the most informative marker with 10 alleles, differentiated among five Y1 and nine Y2 haplotypes. For 21 bulls belonging to the Indian and Southwest Asian breed groups, haplogroup Y3 was identified via the INRA189-88 bp allele. Microsatellite marker BM861 defines one Y-Haplotype Distribution in European Cattle PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 2 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922 additional Y1 and three Y2 additional haplotypes. Haplotype Y198-158 is the most frequent within the Y1 haplogroup and is detected in 82% of the animals from this haplogroup across all geographic breed groups with the exception of the Indian and Podolian. Within the Y2 haplogroup, Y2-102-158 and Y2-104158 haplotypes account for 62% and 29% of the animals respectively. A map showing the distribution of Y-haplotypes is included in Figure S1. Y-chromosomal diversity within breeds is low (mean of 0.4260.3) with fixed haplotypes in 65 out of 111 breeds (approximately 59%). Interestingly, the Southwest Asian breed group is the most genetically diverse, with a total of seven haplotypes detected in a limited sample of 24 animals, and an unbiased expected haplotype diversity of 0.5760.4 (Table 2). The Iberian and British groups have intermediate variability, with 11 and five haplotypes observed and diversities of 0.3460.2 and 0.4160.3 respectively. Phylogeography of Y-haplotypes The phylogenetic relationship among Y-haplotypes was investigated after grouping the breeds into 12 regions on the basis of geography and/or phenotype [34,38]. These breed groups are in agreement with major clusters as defined by autosomal microsatellite (unpublished results; see also Figure S2) and SNP data [7]. Haplotype relationships are depicted in Figure 2 by a medianjoining (MJ) network obtained for the complete dataset, as well as by regional MJ networks defined for each of the 12 geographic breed groups. The MJ networks clearly differentiate the indicine Y3 patriline from the taurine Y1 and Y2 haplogroups. The regional networks depict the Y-chromosome diversity found in each region and the relationship among the observed haplotypes defined by the two microsatellites. AMOVA results are presented in Table S3 and show a significant (P,0.0001) effect of geographical breed grouping, which accounted for 31% of the total variability. Approximately 51% (P,0.0001) of the Y-chromosome genetic variation was found among breeds within groups and 18% (P,0.0001) within breeds. This was confirmed by the generally high Y-chromosomal FST values (Table S4) of all pairwise breed clusters, which were low mainly for the comparison of the dairy north-western European breed clusters. In Figure S2, Y-chromosomal haplotypes have been indicated in a NeighborNet phylogenetic network of Reynolds’ distances based on 30 autosomal microsatellite data. This shows a clear consistency between Y-chromosomal variation and the breed relationships in the autosomal-based phylogeny, with only the British Y2 and Iberian Y1 cattle as major exceptions [as in 14,15]. Discussion Differentiation of paternal lineages in European cattle We analysed Y-chromosomal haplotypes in a comprehensive sampling of European cattle. This allowed a differentiation of two SNP-based taurine haplogroups, which were resolved into 18 haplotypes using genotypes from two microsatellite markers. Locus INRA189 appeared to be, by far, the most informative and, in combination with the other marker and SNPs, showed that paternal lineages strongly depend on geographic origin. A further differentiation was demonstrated by using other microsatellites [14,22,31]. For instance, BYM1 alleles defined a Y1-98-158 variant in Nordic cattle and a Y2-102-158 variant in Spain [14], while DYZ1 detected a different Y2-102-158 variant in Southwest Asian breeds [31]. Distribution of zebu and taurine haplotypes Previous genetic studies have demonstrated a separation of the mitochondrial [39,40,41], Y-chromosomal [25,42,43] and nuclear [21] DNA from taurine and zebu cattle, which supports independent domestications in the Fertile Crescent and Indus valley respectively [44]. In a diverse panel of 2009 European cattle, we exclusively found taurine Y-chromosomal haplotypes. Figure 1. Geographical distribution of Y-haplogroups. (a) Europe, and (b) Eurasia. Green = Y1; red = Y2; black = Y3. Abbreviations of breed names are given in Table 1. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015922.g001 Y-Haplotype Distribution in European Cattle PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 3 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922 Table 1. Breed information, including geographical grouping, for the 111 cattle breeds sampled as part of this study, and associated haplotypic data (defined as SNP-INRA189BM861) and diversity values. Geographic grouping Breed Code Country of origin Number of Y-chromosomes Haplotype haplotype diversity (±SD) total number of haplotypes Y1-94-158 Y1-96-158 Y1-98-158 Y1-98-160 Y1-100-158 Y1-102-158 Y2-80-158 Y2-90-158 Y2-94-158 Y2-96-158 Y2-98-158 Y2-98-160 Y2-100-158 Y2-102-158 Y2-102-160 Y2-104-158 Y2-104-160 Y2-106-158 Y3-88-156 India (IND) Nellore NEL Brazil 12 12 0.00060.000 1 Ongole ONG India 4 4 0.00060.000 1 Total 16 16 0.000±0.000 1 Africa (AFR) N’Dama NDM Guinea 12 2 9 1 0.24760.184 3 Total 12 2 9 1 0.247±0.184 3 Southwest Asia (SWA) Anatolian Black ANT Turkey 5 1 1 2 1 0.30060.424 4 Damascus DAM Syria 3 1 1 1 0.55660.416 3 East Anatolian Red EAR Turkey 4 1 2 1 0.27860.393 3 Middle Iraqi IQM Iraq 4 3 1 0.50060.000 2 North Iraqi IQN Iraq 1 1 n/a 1 South Iraqi IQS Iraq 3 3 0.00060.000 1 South Anatolian Red SAR Turkey 4 2 2 0.22260.314 2 Total 24 4 1 1 1 7 5 5 0.574±0.192 7 Podolian (POD) Chianina CHI Italy 20 20 0.00060.000 1 Istrian IST Croatia 4 4 0.00060.000 1 Marchigiana MCG Italy 11 11 0.00060.000 1 Maremmana MMA Italy 19 19 0.00060.000 1 Podolica PODi Italy 13 9 4 0.15460.218 2 Serbian Podolica PODs Serbia 4 4 0.00060.000 1 Turkish Grey TGY Turkey 3 3 0.00060.000 1 Ukrainian Grey UGY Ukraine 5 5 0.00060.000 1 Y-Haplotype Distribution in European Cattle PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 4 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922 Geographic grouping Breed Code Country of origin Number of Y-chromosomes Haplotype haplotype diversity (±SD) total number of haplotypes Y1-94-158 Y1-96-158 Y1-98-158 Y1-98-160 Y1-100-158 Y1-102-158 Y2-80-158 Y2-90-158 Y2-94-158 Y2-96-158 Y2-98-158 Y2-98-160 Y2-100-158 Y2-102-158 Y2-102-160 Y2-104-158 Y2-104-160 Y2-106-158 Y3-88-156 Total 79 5 28 43 3 0.193±0.273 4 Iberian (IBE) Alentejana ALN Portugal 34 34 0.00060.000 1 AlistanaSanabresa ALS Spain 12 12 0.00060.000 1 Arouquesa ARQ Portugal 33 25 8 0.12660.179 2 Asturiana de los Valles ASV Spain 38 26 6 6 0.25660.202 3 Asturiana de Montana ASM Spain 19 18 1 0.07060.050 2 Avilena Negro Iberica AVI Spain 7 1 1 5 0.27060.214 3 Barrosa ˜BAR Portugal 33 4 29 0.07360.104 2 Berrenda BER Spain 5 3 2 0.20060.283 2 Betizu BEB Spain 17 17 0.00060.000 1 Brava de Lide BRV Portugal 26 2 23 1 0.12260.091 3 Cachena CCH Portugal 25 1 24 0.02760.038 2 Garvonesa GAR Portugal 6 6 0.00060.000 1 Lidia LID Spain 66 1 1 64 0.02060.028 3 Mallorquina MAL Spain 8 8 0.00060.000 1 Marinhoa MAH Portugal 17 17 0.00060.000 1 Maronesa MAR Portugal 23 23 0.00060.000 1 Mertolenga MRT Portugal 21 7 1 1 2 10 0.37860.273 5 Minhota MIN Portugal 28 28 0.00060.000 1 Mirandesa MIR Portugal 23 23 0.00060.000 1 Morucha MOR Spain 5 5 0.00060.000 1 Mostrenca MOS Spain 21 21 0.00060.000 1 Pajuna PAJ Spain 4 1 2 1 0.44460.342 3 Preta PRT Portugal 29 1 1 5 22 0.15860.178 4 Retinta RET Spain 6 4 2 0.17860.251 2 Rubia Gallega RGA Spain 44 44 0.00060.000 1 Sayaguesa SAY Spain 8 1 5 2 0.20260.286 3 Table 1. Cont. Y-Haplotype Distribution in European Cattle PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 5 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922 Geographic grouping Breed Code Country of origin Number of Y-chromosomes Haplotype haplotype diversity (±SD) total number of haplotypes Y1-94-158 Y1-96-158 Y1-98-158 Y1-98-160 Y1-100-158 Y1-102-158 Y2-80-158 Y2-90-158 Y2-94-158 Y2-96-158 Y2-98-158 Y2-98-160 Y2-100-158 Y2-102-158 Y2-102-160 Y2-104-158 Y2-104-160 Y2-106-158 Y3-88-156 Tudanca TUD Spain 10 10 0.00060.000 1 Total 568 44 57 1 1 1 1 1 277 17 140 28 0.335±0.244 11 Central (CEN) Blonde d’Aquitaine BDA France 5 3 2 0.20060.283 2 Bruna de los Pirineds BPI Spain 11 11 0.00060.000 1 Busha BUS Serbia 5 5 0.00060.000 1 Cabannina CAB Italy 2 1 1 0.33360.471 2 Charolais CHA France 31 30 1 0.02260.030 2 Limousin LIM France 24 24 0.00060.000 1 Montbeliard MBE France 6 6 0.00060.000 1 Parthenaise PAR France 15 4 11 0.27960.198 2 Piemontese PIM Italy 13 2 11 0.09460.133 2 Pinzgaur PGZ Austria 9 9 0.00060.000 1 Pirenaica PIR Spain 10 8 2 0.11960.168 2 Pustertaler PUS Italy 13 13 0.00060.000 1 Salers SAL France 20 1 19 0.06760.047 2 Simmental SIM Switzerland 15 15 0.00060.000 1 Swiss Brown SWB Switzerland 14 14 0.00060.000 1 Tarentaise TAR France 18 18 0.00060.000 1 Tyrolean Grey TYG Italy 19 2 17 0.06660.094 2 Total 230 5 4 215 1 5 0.056±0.045 5 British (BRT) Aberdeen Angus ABA Scotland 27 20 7 0.13360.188 2 Ayrshire AYR Scotland 16 16 0.00060.000 1 British White BWH England 21 16 1 1 3 0.25260.111 4 Dexter DEX Ireland 4 4 0.00060.000 1 Galloway GAL Scotland 9 9 0.00060.000 1 Hereford HER England 21 20 1 0.06360.045 2 Highland HIG Scotland 10 10 0.00060.000 1 Jersey JER Jersey 19 19 0.00060.000 1 Total 127 56 8 20 21 22 0.413±0.226 5 Table 1. Cont. Y-Haplotype Distribution in European Cattle PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 6 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922 Geographic grouping Breed Code Country of origin Number of Y-chromosomes Haplotype haplotype diversity (±SD) total number of haplotypes Y1-94-158 Y1-96-158 Y1-98-158 Y1-98-160 Y1-100-158 Y1-102-158 Y2-80-158 Y2-90-158 Y2-94-158 Y2-96-158 Y2-98-158 Y2-98-160 Y2-100-158 Y2-102-158 Y2-102-160 Y2-104-158 Y2-104-160 Y2-106-158 Y3-88-156 Nordic (NOR) Blacksided Troender STN Norway 7 7 0.00060.000 1 Doela DOL Norway 4 4 0.00060.000 1 Eastern Finncattle EFC Finland 9 1 8 0.14860.105 2 Eastern Red Polled ORA Norway 5 5 0.00060.000 1 Fjallnara FNR Sweden 3 3 0.00060.000 1 Icelandic ICL Iceland 8 8 0.00060.000 1 Northern Finncattle NFC Finland 3 3 0.00060.000 1 Norwegian (commercial, hybrid) NRF Norway 12 12 0.00060.000 1 Swedish Mountain SFR Sweden 8 8 0.00060.000 1 Swedish Red Polled ROK Sweden 3 3 0.00060.000 1 Telemark TEL Norway 2 2 0.00060.000 1 Western Finncattle WFC Finland 9 9 0.00060.000 1 Western Fjord VFJ Norway 6 3 3 0.20060.283 2 Western Red Polled VRA Norway 3 2 1 0.22260.314 2 Total 82 64 4 6 8 0.222±0.161 4 Baltic Red (BHR) Angler ANG Germany 10 10 0.00060.000 1 Danish Red RDM Denmark 19 18 1 0.07060.050 2 Latvian Blue (native) LBL Latvia 9 9 0.00060.000 1 Latvian Brown (commercial) LBR Latvia 8 8 0.00060.000 1 Latvian Danish Red DAR Latvia 7 3 4 0.38160.269 2 Suksunskaya SUK Russia 5 4 1 0.26760.189 2 Ukrainian Red Steppe RST Ukraine 5 1 4 0.13360.189 2 Total 63 1 56 6 0.126±0.090 3 Table 1. Cont. Y-Haplotype Distribution in European Cattle PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 7 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922 Geographic grouping Breed Code Country of origin Number of Y-chromosomes Haplotype haplotype diversity (±SD) total number of haplotypes Y1-94-158 Y1-96-158 Y1-98-158 Y1-98-160 Y1-100-158 Y1-102-158 Y2-80-158 Y2-90-158 Y2-94-158 Y2-96-158 Y2-98-158 Y2-98-160 Y2-100-158 Y2-102-158 Y2-102-160 Y2-104-158 Y2-104-160 Y2-106-158 Y3-88-156 North-West (NWE) Belgian Blue BWB France 21 19 2 0.06060.085 2 Belgian Red BRE Belgium 4 4 0.00060.000 1 Normand NOR France 46 46 0.00060.000 1 Shorthorn SHN Belgium 19 19 0.00060.000 1 Total 90 19 71 0.112±0.159 2 Lowland Pied (LLP) Dutch Belted DUB Netherlands 8 3 5 0.35760.253 2 Friesian-Dutch FRH Netherlands 8 8 0.00060.000 1 German Original Black Pied-West BPW Germany 3 3 0.00060.000 1 Groningen Whitehead GWH Netherlands 6 6 0.00060.000 1 Holstein Friesian HFR Netherlands 65 64 1 0.02160.015 2 Jutland (old native) SJM Denmark 6 6 0.00060.000 1 Meuse-RhineYssel MRY Netherlands 9 9 0.00060.000 1 Red Holstein dual type RH2 Netherlands 1 1 n/a 1 Total 106 100 1 5 0.072±0.039 3 Eastern (EAS) Bestuzhev BZH Russia 4 4 0.00060.000 1 Istobenskaya ISB Russia 9 9 0.00060.000 1 Kalmyk KAL Russia 12 12 0.00060.000 1 Kholomogorskaya KHO Russia 6 6 0.00060.000 1 Pechorskaya PCH Russia 7 7 0.00060.000 1 Ukrainian Whiteheaded UWH Ukraine 11 4 1 6 0.38860.276 3 Yakutian cattle YKT Siberia 23 22 1 0.02960.041 2 Yaroslavskaya YAR Russia 3 3 0.00060.000 1 Total 75 33 1 6 34 1 0.373±0.247 5 Overall 111 breeds 1472 44 20 448 8 25 1 6 14 1 1 2 1 7 559 18 259 1 36 21 0.422±0.269 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015922.t001 Table 1. Cont. Y-Haplotype Distribution in European Cattle PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 8 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922 This implies that the zebu alleles found for autosomal markers in the Podolian [6,45,46,47], Iberian [6,48,49] and Ukrainian Whitehead [31] breeds came to Europe indirectly, presumably via Anatolia, North Africa or north of the Black Sea. In addition, the presence of zebu Y-chromosomes in Southwest Asia indicate that zebu introgression only took place after the expansion of domestic taurine cattle from Southwest Asia towards Europe [16]. Taurine haplogroups The divergence of the two haplogroups Y1 and the Y2 without intermediate haplotypes suggests that domestication combined paternal lineages originate from two diverged populations. Remarkably, both haplogroups were found in Southwest Asia. In Europe, the Y1 and Y2 haplogroups found in extant cattle exhibit a clear geographic structure, with Y1 restricted to northern European and Iberian breeds. Initially, this was explained by local aurochs introgression, supposed to carry the Y1 lineage [25]; however, this does not account for the presence of Y1 in Southwest Asia. In addition, a subsequent study [27] exclusively found Y2 haplogroups in European aurochs. We note that this does not exclude that the Y2 lineage was partially contributed by local aurochs, nor that conditions of Neolithic farming may have created opportunities for male introgression from wild animals. However, several analyses of mtDNA have clearly demonstrated that domestic maternal lineages originate from Southwest Asia, with only sporadic female aurochs introgression [11,12,16,50,51]. An obvious possibility is that the current Y-chromosomal haplogroup distribution reflects Neolithic immigration routes. According to archaeological evidence, the dispersal of agriculture in Europe started in Greece around 7,000 BC, moved to southern Italy circa. 6,000 BC, and then along a southern route into the western Mediterranean between 5,600 and 5,400 BC, reaching Portugal around 5,300 BC. Migration along the continental route into Poland and Germany occurred between 5,500 and 5,300 BC, reaching north-western France around 5,000 BC; southern Scandinavia, the British Isles and Ireland were reached circa.or after 4,000 BC [52,53,54]. It is generally accepted that agriculture spread via these two routes: the Mediterranean route and the Danubian (or continental) route. Although Y1 has a clear presence in Iberian cattle, Y2 paternal lineages dominate in the present Mediterranean area. A founder effect in Danubian immigrants could have caused the dominance of Y1 in northern Europe. In this scenario, the presence of Y1 in Iberia would have resulted from movements along the Atlantic seaboard, as documented by the Neolithic archaeological record [55], and the presence of two haplogroups in Britain may indicate a convergence of immigrants of both routes. Alternatively, colonisation of Britain may have predated the expansion of Y1, which could have arrived in Britain later via the documented import of Dutch sires in the 18 th century. This would be in line with analysis of skeletal remains excavated in Sweden, showing that Y1 bulls replaced Y2 bulls during or after the late Middle Ages [26], although Y1 cattle were taken to Iceland by the Vikings c. 1,000 AD. However, a Y1 founder effect, long after the introduction of domestic cattle in northern Europe, is the most consistent with the haplotype diversity pattern. Y1 samples identified in Africa are more likely to be the result of a recent introgression of European cattle rather than the expansion of a genetically heterogeneous sire population domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. Y-specific microsatellite data confirm the existence of a Y2 haplotypic subfamily in African cattle restricted to the African continent [14,15]. Distribution of haplotype diversity The comprehensive coverage of our study permits a comparison of the diversity of paternal lineages in different regions. Even in a limited sampling, Southwest Asian cattle contain seven out of the 19 taurine haplotypes identified in this study. This supports the theory that the Fertile Crescent was a major centre of cattle domestication and that European cattle are a subset of an initially diverse Southwest Asian domestic population. The high diversity in Spain and Portugal is probably explained by the isolated position of the Iberian Peninsula, by which much of the original diversity has been conserved. However, the increased diversity may also have been influenced by African introgression, which is consistent with mitochondrial and autosomal information Table 2. Haplotypic data for the breeds typed for the Y1-Y2-Y3 SNPs and the two microsatellite loci, INRA189 and BM861. Geographic grouping SNPs Mean number of samples / breed Microsatellites Mean number of samples / breed Total number of haplotypes Haplotype diversity (±SD) Breeds Samples Breeds Samples India (IND) 2 16 8.0 2 16 8.0 1 0.00060.0 Africa (AFR) 1 14 n/a 1 12 n/a 3 0.24760.2 Southwest Asia (SWA) 7 25 3.6 7 24 3.4 7 0.57460.4 Podolian (POD) 12 184 15.3 8 79 9.9 4 0.19360.2 Iberian (IBE) 31 651 21.0 27 568 21.0 11 0.33560.2 Central (CEN) 30 453 15.1 17 230 13.5 5 0.05660.1 British (BRT) 10 164 16.4 8 127 15.9 5 0.41360.3 Nordic (NOR) 14 95 6.8 14 82 5.9 4 0.22260.2 Baltic Red (BHR) 9 77 8.6 7 63 9.0 3 0.12660.1 North-West (NWE) 5 126 25.2 4 90 22.5 2 0.11260.1 Lowland Pied (LLP) 9 208 23.1 8 106 13.3 3 0.07260.1 Eastern (EAS) 8 74 9.3 8 75 9.4 5 0.37360.3 Overall 138 2087 15.1 111 1472 13.3 19 0.422±0.3 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015922.t002 Y-Haplotype Distribution in European Cattle PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 9 January 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 1 | e15922