— Archaeologists find new evidence of animals being introduced to prehistoric Caribbean — An archaeological research team from North Carolina State University, the University of Washington and University of Florida has found one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric…
— Microscopic worms could hold the key to living life on Mars — The astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes that if humanity is to survive we will have up sticks and colonise space. But is the human body up to the challenge?…
— Chemical warfare of stealthy silverfish — A co-evolutionary arms race exists between social insects and their parasites. Army ants (Leptogenys distinguenda) share their nests with several parasites such as beetles, snails and…
— Stinky frogs are a treasure trove of antibiotic substances — Some of the nastiest smelling creatures on Earth have skin that produces the greatest known variety of anti-bacterial substances that hold promise for becoming new weapons in the battle…
— Genetic code of first arachnid cracked — An international team of scientists - including Ghent VIB scientists - has succeeded in deciphering the genome of the spider mite. This is also the first known genome of an arachnid.…
— How bats 'hear' objects in their path — By placing real and virtual objects in the flight paths of bats, scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Munich have shed new light on how echolocation works. Their research is…
— Counting cats: The endangered snow leopards of the Himalayas — The elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia) lives high in the mountains across Central Asia. Despite potentially living across 12 countries the actual numbers of this beautiful large…
— Surprise role of nuclear structure protein in development — Scientists have long held theories about the importance of proteins called B-type lamins in the process of embryonic stem cells replicating and differentiating into different varieties…
— Pregnancy is a drag for bottlenose dolphins — Lumbering around during the final weeks before delivery is tough for any pregnant mum. Most females adjust their movements to compensate for the extreme physical changes that accompany…
Wild Iberian horses contributed to the origin of the current Iberian domestic stock
The earliest known domestic horses are around 4,600 years old. They were originated in the steppes between modern Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Using this evidence, two different hypotheses have been suggested: 1) domestic horses spread from this area over the rest of Eurasia; 2) horse domestication was a multiregional process, having occurred several times in different local places.
'Previous analysis on mitochondrial DNA from modern Iberian horses pointed to the D1 haplogroup as the most likely group involved in an independent domestication event, maybe in Iberia or in North Africa' explains Anders Goetherstroem from the Department of Evolutionary Biology at Uppsala University, who headed the project together with Juan Luis Arsuaga of the Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII from Madrid (Spain).
The researchers have compared the ancient Iberian sequences from Iberian Neolithic, Bronze Age and Middle Ages obtained in this study with more than 1,000 modern horse sequences from different Iberian and non-Iberian breeds, as well as with ancient sequences from other studies.
The researchers found the earliest occurrence of the D1 group in Iberia in a medieval horse. 'We have not found sequences from the Neolithic or the Bronze Age period associated to the most important modern Iberian haplogroup, the D1 group. That means that D1 group can be a foreigner group, which entered in Iberia during historical times' says Jaime Lira, of the Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII from Madrid and the main author of this study.
Furthermore, wild horses from Iberia contributed to the domestication process, and the Lusitano group C is a witness from this event. 'The Lusitano C is a small group constituted only by modern horses from Iberian origin. We have found that maternal lineages from this group were already present in wild Iberian horses from the Early Neolithic, continuing through the Bronze Age until nowadays.' explains Juan Luis Arsuaga. These results suggest the possibility of a completely independent domestication episode, or the use of Iberian maternal lineages in a restocking process from the wild.
Or subscribe for our Newsletter, a free e-mail publication. It is published practically every day.
Invigorated muscle structure allows geese to brave the Himalayas
Researchers capture bacterial infection on film
Scientists unlock optical secrets of jewel beetles
Newborn brain cells show the way