Riccardo NegriniIstituto di Zootecnica

Università Cattolica del S. Cuore Piacenza, Italyriccardo.negrini@unicatt.it

http://www.animalgenetics-piacenza.it.

An unexpected story read in Italian cattle

DNA

Towards a strategy for the conservation of the genetic diversity of European cattle

RESGEN

SIM

ASVASM TUDALI

SAYAVIMOR

RET

PIR

BPI

GAS

AUBSAL

LIMBAZ

BPNNOR

CHA

GWH

BDA

BRO

JERGUE

DARANG

BOR

ERIRGA

DUB

M

WFC

EFC

NFC

SRP

HER

ABASHI

DEX

BWB

HIW

YEL POR

IST

REN

CAB

CHI

ROM

MMA

POD

HGYGRA

TDL

CNA

AYR

PIM

PIG

BUS

REN

LBPLRP

MCG

HFR

SHN

PAR

BER PAJ

STE

MON

BRO

MAN

AYR

PRIHFR

[RESGEN PL98-118 www.androclus.vet.uu.nl/resgen/][RESGEN PL98-118 www.androclus.vet.uu.nl/resgen/]

A dataset comprising almost 60 European

taurine breeds

30 microsatelites150 AFLP markers

Northern Europe

Southern Europe

Central Europe

Reynolds distance

Relationship among Relationship among European breedsEuropean breeds

iii

iii

ynolds yx

yxD

1

)( 2

21

Re

Neighbour Joining tree

Modicana

Cinisara

Podolica

Maremmana

Chianina

Calvana

RomagnolaPiedmontese

RendenaItalian red pied

Cabannina

N=47

N=66

N=51

11 Italian Breeds141 AFLP

PCOA1

-0,2

-0,15

-0,1

-0,05

0

0,05

0,1

0,15

-0,1 -0,05 0 0,05 0,1 0,15

It, FresianItalian Red Pied

Valdostana Red Pied

Cabannina

It. Limousine

RendenaPiedmontese

Mucca Pisana

Podolica

Maremmana

Cinisara

It. BrownModicana

MarchigianaRomagnola

Chianina

Calvana

Alpine Grey

Relationship among Italian breedsRelationship among Italian breeds

ALPINEPODOLIAN

NORTH

CENTRE-SOUTH

Other class of markersOther class of markers…………

D Laloë, K Goudarz

1st dimension

2nd d

ime

ns

ion

ChianinaChianinaLarger cattle in the world.

The bull "Donetto" reached the weigh of 1.780 Kg

•L. IUNIUS MODERATUS COLUMELLA (I sec B.C.)

De Re Rustica - Liber VI

“[…] Umbria produces huge and white (bovines) […]”

Historical information

In VI – VII sec. B.C. Numa Pompilio (Roman king) introduced in Rome the use of sacrifying to gods huge white bovines used in field working

Two genomes, three modes of transmitting information

Mitochondrial DNA

Autosomes

Y Chromosome

Bos taurus mtDNA HVRI region diversity

Reduced Median Networks Troy et al., Nature, 2001

Centre Europe

Near East

Italy

Loss of diversity

*

*

*

N.S.

Admixture analysis

Parental population

Hybrid population Africa Europe Anatolia & Near East

Northern Italy 0.071 ± 0.087 1.114 ± 0.364 -0.1852 ± 0.442

Central Italy 0.028 ± 0.084 0.160 ± 0.297 0.812 ± 0.363

Southern Italy 0.197 ± 0.098 1.517 ± 0.405 -0.713 ± 0.486

How did they arrive….?

When did they arrive….?When did they arrive….?

T3

1613816050

16261

16057

Tuscany

Egypt

East Europa (Hungary)

Tuscany, Middle East, Anatolia, Egypt

Datation of a T3 branch rooting in 16050 transition.

Mutation shared by Tuscan, Middle Eastern cattle

Estimated coalescence time is 3.970 +/- 2.400 years b.p.: The mutation arrived in Tuscany after Neolithic colonization of Italy

(about 8.000 years b.p.)

MtDNA haplogroups (T, T1, T2 and T3)

Is there any link with past human history….?Is there any link with past human history….?

Is there any link with the onset of Etruscan civilisation?

Etruscan had a powerful military and trading fleet and reached the Aegean sea and Anatolia

Strabone, citing Eforo, reports that Greeks that were founding Naxos (734 B.C.) were afraid of

Etruscan attacks.

Etruscan navy controlled trade in west Mediterranean

630 – 500 B.C.

•What about genetics?

•History -> Herodotus

•Linguistics -> European or Semitic?

•Archaeology -> different opinions

On-going debate on the origin of this civilisation

Local development, with Eastern influences or Eastern Mediterranean provenience?

mtDNA analysis from Etruscan remains (Vernesi et al., 2001 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA)

Most related modern population

• modern Tuscans

•Anatolia populations

Gene flow with

Genetic data from modern populations

- Francalacci et al. (1996 Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 100, 443-460.) modern mtDNA sequences suggested the presence in Tuscany of an ancient European mtDNA diversity component, subsequently enriched by migrational waves, possibly from the Middle East.

- Cavalli-Sforza and coauthors assayed nuclear markers in modern humans living in Tuscany (1994 History and geography of human genes - Princeton University Press, Princeton, NY, USA). They detected a genetic discontinuity in these when compared to nearby Italian populations, explained either as an immigration from elsewhere or by the ancient expansion of a local isolated population.

mtDNA of modern Tuscan people mtDNA of modern Tuscan people

Tuscany divided in Volterra, Casentino and Murlo

B. taurusH. sapiens

ALL ROADS TAKE TO ROMA…..?ALL ROADS TAKE TO ROMA…..?

Before Rome many roads already took nearby, to Tarquinia, Caere, Cerveteri, Chiusi, Murlo…

• Paolo Ajmone Marsan• Piacenza team (Marco

Pellecchia, Licia Colli, Raffaele Mazza, Ezequiel Nicolazzi, Lorenzo Bomba, Fatima Chegdani, Francesca Sibella, Marcin Rzepus, Giordana Lucente)

• Resgen Consortium• Globaldiv Consortium

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• F. Salamini• A. Torroni• A .Achilli• U. Tecchiati• O. Hanotte• M. Bruford

And thank you for the attention……